Halloween Academy
by Stone-Man85
Summary: In Halloween Town, all Hollow's Eve Academy teaches the future generation of Halloween. And surprisingly... one human gets mixed up in the middle. Chaos and Hijinks ensues in this conglomeration of Tim Burton's best works, and a cult classic.
1. New Girl in School pt1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Nightmare before Christmas, nor do I own Grim Tales, Invader Zim, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, or Danny Phantom and Harry Potter. They are all the sole properties of their creators; TNBC is owned by the great Tim Burton. Ocs are of my own designs, as well as those of Bleedman's.**

**This is dedicated to Bleedman, who writes all those cool comics… and also because I'm a big fan of them. And is especially dedicated to my baby sister, who's a huge fan of Tim Burton's the Nightmare before Christmas. **

**Lauren… this one's for you.**

* * *

**Halloween High**

* * *

**Chapter 1: New Girl in School; The Boy with the Flaming Skull pt.1**

* * *

_Twas a long time ago… longer now than it seems…_

_In a place that perhaps that you've seen either in your nightmares or dreams…_

_In a place of fairytales I am told… took place in the Halloween World of old…_

_Now you've often wondered where the Spirits and Ghouls of Halloween comes from._

… _if you haven't…_

… _then I'd say it's time you started. _

… _as one mortal will soon learn…_

* * *

**Outskirts of the Country**

* * *

The dried yet flourishing countryside rustled as the wind picked up. Farm houses and cattle were present as the sun shined its golden light down on the land. A paved road went down the way as a mysterious bus roared on through at normal speed. The wind picked up once again as it drove down the empty road at this time, picking up any stray leaves or light garbage scattered on the ground. The bus was peculiar in structure and color, as it appeared to have six wheels instead of the usual four. The stop sign also looked to be in the shape of a pumpkin, as well as have a Jack O' lantern face on it accompanying the word STOP on it. And the grill of the bus's front was shaped like a toothy demonic grin.

Inside the bus, it was completely vacant, except for the driver and its one passenger in the back. The driver was dressed in a professional bus driver's attire, a blue suit and hat. However, the fellow's clothing seemed a bit torn at the corners, and the shoulders were covered in dust and cobwebs. The man was very lanky and his posture was hunched over, and his skin appeared to be that of a deathly pale blue, and the only thing that was sticking out of his black and yellow rotting teeth, was a big cigar as he continuously puffed out smoke with.

His passenger, the only one aboard the strange bus, was a girl. She was fourteen years old, slim figure, not fully developed for a teenager yet, fair pale skin, crystal blue eyes, long silky and yet puffy blonde hair that ended at the bottom of her shoulder blades, and a few long loose bangs that draped over her right side, with a black hair band on her head with a crystal dragonfly on the upper right side of it. She was dressed in a white button up long sleeve shirt, with her neck opened up a little, with a cute bow tie hanging loosely around the shirt collar. She wore a green vest with gold vine designs on the back, an equal green skirt with those same designs on the right side, thinly stretching towards the left. She also wore a bruise purple pair of pantyhose, with sandal like black Mary Jane shoes. And with her was a yellow and hooded rain coat on her person, and a black backpack.

She sighed contently, as a small smile emerged from her pretty and zit-free face. 'Coraline Jones…' she thought to herself as she watched the countryside pass her by, 'You're on your way to becoming a high school girl….' and then her face frowned as she sighed, "… hopefully…"

* * *

**A Month Ago**

**Michigan**

* * *

The end of the schooling semester was over for middle school in Michigan. The students were all leaving and saying their goodbyes to their school. Today, middle school officially ended for them all, and after summer, they would officially start High School. Inside one of the classrooms, a few girls were conversing on their plans once they entered their high school lives.

"Hooooooh," a red head sighed with disappointment as she looked to her friends, "This stinks. It's an all-girls high school for me for the next three years."

"Yeah, I really envy mixed schools," a raven-haired beauty snickered at that, "I heard that the co-eds actually share the same washrooms."

"Oh girl," a black girl with braids in her hair and wearing a usual break-dancing outfit answered, "You are all kinds of crazy." she then smirked scheming, "Though I know where you're getting' at. Those kinds of schools are like college dormitories."

"Yeah, it saves a huge hassle from driving to the school," a brunette replied. "Plus…" she giggled, "… there's plenty of cute guys." she then turned towards the window… to where Coraline was sitting at, looking outside, "Right, Corie?"

The girl remained silent as she sighed sadly, ignoring the others. The black one tilted her hips to the side as she placed her hands there, and grumbled, "What's that girl's problem?"

"She didn't make the grade," the red head answered. "Seems that none of the applications she sent to all those high schools weren't approved."

"Man, that bites." the girls then left the room, contemplating on going to the mall, picking out boys, and so on.

Coraline sighed as she sadly looked out the window, watching the others go out of the middle school grounds. On to their high schools and on to their futures. She, on the other hand, was stuck nowhere… no high school, and no future. She sighed as she rested her cheek on her hand, as she sighed heavily, "I guess it's home schooling for me…"

* * *

**At Home**

* * *

Coraline walked right in as she closed the front door behind her. As she traversed into the kitchen, she heard her mother monotonely call out, "Coraline… come in here."

The blonde girl groaned as she stepped inot the kitchen, and saw her mom hard at work on her laptop. She was in her thirties or forties, short black hair, physically fit, beautiful, wearing some kind of neck brace of sorts, and dressed in a white blouse with black pants. She was constantly glued to her laptop, typing up a storm, not even looking at her daughter.

Coraline stepped in as she sighed, "Yes, Mother?"

"Why is it whenever you're angry… you always call me Mother?" she asked, not tearing her eyes away from the computer screen. "Anyway…" she stopped typing long enough as she tore away from the computer to look at her daughter. Surprisingly, she smiled as she picked something up from the table, "… I know you've had a hard time being accepted by high schools…"

"Tell me about it," Coraline groaned.

"Yeah…" Mrs. Jones half-smirked as she gave her daughter the application, "Your dad found this from a wandering guy dressed as what he said looked like the Grim Reaper." her daughter make a questioned look, as Mrs. Jones shrugged in response, "Yeah, I don't get it either. Anyway, with it, you should be a shoe in to be a high school student this summer."

Her daughter raised an eyebrow, and asked with scrutiny in her voice, "The guy dropped it and Dad just brought it over, didn't he?" but her mom didn't answer as she asked again, this time a little annoyance in her voice, "Mom?" she looked and saw that she had gone back to her typing once again, seemingly everything around her was dead in the world. "Fine, don't answer it." Coraline sighed as she groaned and walked out of the kitchen with the paper in tow.

Coraline checked out the application, seeming to look legit. But the odd thing was that it was on orange paper, in black writing, and designed to resemble that of Halloween décor. She looked at the name and read the title of the school, "Hollow's Eve High? What's this place in? Amityville?" she looked at the address, and checked and saw that it was smack dab in the middle of New York and the country, next to the town of Sleepy Hollow. She sighed as she made a half smirk, "Least I won't have to repeat in Mid School this year."

* * *

**Present Day**

* * *

"But this time, it's different," Coraline told herself as she looked out the window, her fists clenched in determination.

Surprising Coraline, sticking out of the backpack was a black cat, looking out the window as it cleaned himself off. "Cheshire!" Coraline smirked in surprise at seeing the cat, "You naughty little thing. You snuck along with me?" the cat merely looked at the girl, as Coraline smirked, "I'm glad you did though. This time, I've got a school I've been accepted to, Cheshire." she then scratched behind the cat's ears as it purred more, "Though I really don't know much about this Hollow's Eve school."

The girl looked out the window and sighed as she leaned on the window. The whole countryside passed the girl by as she sighed in boredom. Her attention then turned to the letter that she pulled out from her skirt's pocket. She took it out of the envelop and unfolded it as she read it silently.

_Dear Coraline Jones,_

_We are pleased to inform you that your application had come through. And we are also pleased to inform that you have been accepted at Hollow's Eve High School. _

_A month will pass until a bus arrives to take you to the Western Woods Road to escort you to Hollow's Eve High. There you will be given the academic studies any teenager will receive in their four years._

_Signed,_

_The Mayor/Principle of Hollow's Eve Academy _

Coraline sighed, as she relaxed a little, awaiting to when she would be taken to her new school life.

"Hey, young lady," the bus driver suddenly spoke up, in a voice that would make anyone's skin shoot right off their body. Coraline immediately bolted in his direction as he went on, "So… you gonna be a freshmen in Hollow's Eve Academy, eh?"

"Uh, yeah," Coraline answered. She cocked an eyebrow as she thought, 'Man. This guy's been silent the whole day, and all of a sudden he starts talking. Boy, he sounds creepy… like Ron Perlman's role as Justice in Afro Samurai creepy.'

He then chuckled a bit as the driver then spoke up once again, "Then you'd better prepare yourself mentally. It's not exactly a school for the faint of heart…" he turned his head to the side. Coraline didn't notice it, but the man's left eye glowed an eerie yellow as his bad tooth smirk showed up, "… especially for a tasty living human like yourself."

"Tasty human?" Coraline asked, as Cheshire went back into the bag. "Look, buddy," the blonde shot out, with a scowl look on her face, "If you're one of those sickos who gets a rile up every time they scare a kid…" suddenly, a ringing tone that played the opening theme song to Tales from the Crypt popped up. "Hold on, I've got a call," she replied as she dug into her pockets, and pulled out a black and yellow cell phone. However, she was unaware that at this time, the bus was approaching a darkened tunnel.

As soon as she opened the phone, she heard her dad's voice. She smirked at this as she answered, "Oh hi, dad."

"_Hey, Corie_," her dad replied in a chipper voice. Coraline smirked at that nickname her dad always called her, even when she was little, "_I just called up to see if the trip's a pleasant one._"

"Don't worry, Daddy. Things' going pretty smoothly," the young blonde replied. But then she frowned at the driver, almost glaring as she replied politely, "Though the company's something to check on about."

"_What else is new?_" her dad joked, but not before his tone became serious, "_But seriously, Cor. I only called up because I got more info on the school you'll be going to._" as the call continued, they immediately entered the tunnel, "_In a very bizarre sense, Hollow's Eve Academy is…_" and just like that, the signal was broke,

"Hello? Dad? Daddy?" realizing the connection was broke due to going into a dead zone, Coraline hung up her phone. She had to wonder though, what was her dad gonna tell her? What was it about Hollow's Eve High that she didn't learn about from the application? She just sighed on it as she looked out at the darkened window, "Guess I'll just have to see for myself."

The bus driver just chuckled as he looked in front of him; though it sounded like an evil laugh, he was in no way evil himself. He was just chuckling of the sweet irony that was displayed before him at this moment.

* * *

**The Other Side of the Tunnel**

* * *

There was grim sky and a scraggly forest in the view of the young man. Next to her was a scarecrow-like sign which had the name 'Hollow's Eve Academy' written on a sign on the bottom, and another sign slung around its neck, reading 'Halloween Town', and both of them were written in eerie lettering. The nearby forest was leafless and every tree looked dead. Behind the young man was a cliff which dropped into a completely unforeseen ocean, completely screwing up what should have been land instead of water. The scenery and the young girl's nerves weren't helped by the various spiders, snakes, and bones that littered the ground.

"This looks like a completely different world then the one we were in," Coraline told herself. She turned as she heard a thud sound, and saw the bus driver unload her two rolling suitcases off the bus. She pulled on her backpack and looked to the driver as he wandered back into the bus, "Hey, Mister!" the driver stopped, but kept his back turned from her as she glaringly asked, "Just what kind of place is this? This looks more like a horror movie set than school grounds."

"The school's past the town," the driver answered.

"Town?" Coraline asked, even more confused than before as she shouted, "What town? I thought we were going to an academy?"

"Oh, there is an academy. It's nestled in with the town." The driver then sat back down in the driver's seat, chuckling at seeing the girl's uneasiness written all over her, and spoke out some valuable words of wisdom. "Just be careful, kiddo." he then gave her one final smirk as he closed the doors and said, "Happy Halloween." and then drove off, going back to the tunnel.

Coraline, being officially freaked out, stomped as she shouted back to him, "WELL, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?" as she watched the bus disappear, she muttered, "Freak." she then grabbed her bags, and made her way into the forest pathway.

She walked deeper and deeper into the forest, feeling her skin crawl as she saw the eerie shadows being cast onto her. Wanting to ignore the eeriness of this place, she remembered, "Oh, that's right. I've gotta call Dad again." she pulled out her cell phone and attempted to call her father again. However, as she dialed the number, and listened… there was no signal at all.

"That's odd." She looked to her phone, almost as if it were a foreign object. "There's no signal at all; it was working good a while ago." she cocked an eyebrow at this bizarre turn of events, "And I know I paid the phone bill for extra minutes." she sighed as she continued, "This is just getting weird."

A chorus of caws startled the poor girl as she looked up. In the branches, watching down upon her, was a murder of crows, with glowing red eyes. "Okay… creepy birds in the forest. And crows no less. Not good omens." She gulped as she continued onward, "Is this even the right way?"

A loud explosion of birds flying away caused her to jump out of her skin as she jumped. She turned and looked to see the same crows flying away. She huffed and puffed heavily; the blood from her face nearly froze in place. She shook if off as she continued onward in the forest, rolling her luggage behind her.

As she did, she nervously looked all around her, and started reciting a little song her dad always sang to her. "Oh, my twitchy-witchy girl, I think you are so nice…" she started as she continued down the path, "I give you bowls of porridge and I give you bowls of ice…." she suddenly stopped her song as she heard a sound. But this time, it wasn't the forest or an animal that made it… She gulped as she heard the sound; it was close to a chain saw of sorts. A really… really… REALLY BIG… chainsaw.

She moved on again, hoping that it was just some lumberjack, and continued with her song. "I give you bowls of porridge, and I give you bowls of ice… Cream…" her voice nearly squeaked at that last work as she continued onward, still hearing the buzz saw sounds, getting closer… and closer… not even noticing the strange shadow that moved in the forest beside her from far away. "I give you lots of kisses, and I give you lots of hugs…" she gulped as the sound got louder.

"But I never give you sandwiches made with grease, and worms, and mung... BEANS!" she spoke out hysterically as she ran for dear life out of that forest.

* * *

**A little While Later**

* * *

After walking tirelessly in the spooky, and seemingly lifeless forest, Coraline was fearing the worst. Maybe if she was lucky she would find someone who could tell her what to do.

Traveling through the landscape was a little freaky. The place had a weird aura of fear around it and Coraline wasn't liking it one bit. Still, this might be what the students at the school liked, so she had no real reason to complain. She noticed that as soon as she exited the darkened forest numerous tombstones were littering the scenery, making her wonder if there really were that many deaths that occurred in this place… or if they were just there for looks. But the thing that was even more eerie, was the strange hill in the graveyard; it was in a swirl, almost curled up like a vine, waiting to snap at someone and slice them in half.

"Looks like it's out of a horror movie or something," Coraline shivered. She looked to Cheshire as she cringed, "What do you think, Cheshie?" the cat merely purred as he looked to her with a raised eyebrow, almost as if the feline could understand her. She sighed as she looked ahead, "Yeah, I thought so."

"Look out!" someone shouted to her loudly.

"Huh?" Coraline blinked. By the time her mind processed who said that, she had already turned around. Her eyes widened at what he saw a black and gray chopper bike barreling towards her. "Ahh!"

Luckily, it missed her, but as it landed on the ground, it spun out of control. It spun around in a circle, as the rider cried out in pure dizziness, almost as if he was on the verge of throwing up at that time. Coraline could only watch in horror at this, as she cupped her mouth; hiding all the screams that she had been able to hold back until now. Finally, the bike spun right into what appeared to be tombstones of a screaming man and a screaming horn.

WHAM!! CRASH! CRUNCH!! SPLATT! CLANG, CLANG!!!!!

Coraline looked away as the sounds of the crash filled her ears. She looked and saw the crash was a complete wreck; going against impulse, she ran over to it, frightened to the core for the rider. "Hey! Hey, are you okay?" she looked at the bike wreckage; the bike remained a bit undamaged, just a few scrapes and dents in the metal and piantjob. However, when she got to the rider, who's face was completely hidden, it was the worst sight ever seen. The body was all mangled up; it was bent and twisted at the joints so inhumanly that he resembled a mashed up human ball.

Coraline, feeling that she had done something to cause this, slowly walked over to the boy's body. She knelt down as she placed a hand on his shoulder. 'His body…' she thought as she looked at the covered lad, 'It's so cold. But he's only been dead for about… what? Ten minutes, give or take a few seconds?'

But the math going through her head was plowed over, as she looked back at the boy. She gently stroked the shoulder as she looked away. "I'm sorry," her soft female voice whispered as she was about to get up. But then, the corpse's black fingerless gloved hand shot out, and grabbed her wrist roughly and tightly. "Wha?" she turned around sharply, and saw the hand pulling at her, "No!" she yelled out as she grabbed the wrist, gripping at it and trying to pull away, shouting, "Let me go! Let me go!"

After a short tug of war, Coraline finally broke free, as she fell flat on her butt. The young blonde girl groaned as she brought her hand to rub her sore head, "Ugh! That body's got one heck of a death gri…" however, her sentence stopped as her eyes nearly bugged out, her mouth gasped open, and she went white as a sheet at what she saw. Looking at her right arm, the hand that grabbed her was still attached… along with the forearm that was now disconnected from the rest of the body. But what made her gasp even more, as she pulled it off in a hurry, was that the whole hand and arm were completely skeletal.

She huffed, gasping for air as she was close to panicking at this point. But then she yelped, as the other skeletal hand shoot up, and grasp the motorcycle. She scooted back as she heard the sounds of bone limbs popping and cracking on one another. As horrifying as this was, she couldn't take her frightened eyes off this; it was almost as if she was compelled to watch such a disturbing scene. She then saw the legs stick up for a moment, doing insane movements and bending awkwardly until they were straightened out. Finally, the rider jumped up, over the bike in a perfect spinning jump flip, and landed only ten feet away from her.

The young girl was overshadowed by the figure's shadow as Coraline finally got a good look at him. The figure was obviously a boy, given his build, thin but amazingly, under this clothing, he appeared to be well built, and appeared to be fourteen, just like she was. He was wearing black baggy jeans, with black high top sneakers, with gray soles and laces. His jacket was short and black leather; a real biker jacket of sorts, with the sleeves rolled up all the way over the elbow and stopping there, and buttoned up halfway. Underneath it was a black hoodie shirt, with the hood over the boy's head, covering his whole face. Strapped to his back was a bad ass black electric guitar with a skeletal design on it.

But what freaked her out, was when she looked at his arms. His right forearm was missing, meaning that the skeletal arm and hand was his, and now that she got a good look at him, his left forearm and hand were skeletal as well. Using only his left hand, he reached for his hood, and pulled it back, revealing to Coraline the boy's face. And true enough, it was a skeleton from the head to toe, as she saw a skull and spinal column instead of a head or neck. The eyes were big, and had a cute button hole to where his nose would have been, and a mouth in which the teeth didn't seem visible; almost as if the teeth had merged together and formed a strange pair of lips. He also had a bushel of brown hair on his head, that was shaggy and hung over on his right side, and in his right eye socket, appeared a gray iris and black pupil, that moved around, almost as if it were a functioning eye.

The skeleton groaned as he arched his back, making a few pops heard out. The skeleton boy sighed as he looked around, "Man, that was an awesome spill." he then stopped as he looked down at the girl, sitting on the ground and terrified beyond belief. He asked, with his face expressing concern, "Hey, you okay?"

She didn't answer him, and so he stepped forward. Coraline gasped as she scooted away, kicking at the ground to gain distance from him, until she finally screamed out, "K… KEEP AWAY FROM ME!" she shielded her face with her arms, and turned her head to look away, screaming in fear, "DON'T EAT ME!"

The skeleton stopped, a look of confusion was on his face as his right eyebrow was cocked. "Eat you?" for a moment, he looked at her clueless, until he finally laughed out loud as he walked over to his detached limb. He picked up as he answered, "I don't eat breather monsters. Monsters don't even eat each other." the skeleton boy then snapped his limb back in, and let go a she was about to move it about. He dropped his arm to the side as he looked to the girl and shrugged with a half-smirk, "And if there were humans here, we wouldn't eat'em either. I mean, who knows where they've been."

"So…" Coraline asked as she sat up straight, instead of running away, "You're… really not gonna… eat me?"

"Nope," the skeleton boy answered, "I mean, why would I eat a fellow monster?"

The blonde looked confused as she cocked an eyebrow at him, "Monster? I'm not a…" she stopped herself for a moment, as she looked away, deep in thought. Her face was squinting as she was scheming on this, 'Wait a minute, Coraline… obviously this guy thinks I'm like him. If I slip up and spout out that I'm a living human, I'm either gonna be torn apart, or…' she then stopped for a moment, as she heard sniffing coming from in front of her.

She turned around as she nearly freaked out, seeing the skeleton boy kneeling beside her, sniffing at her. She jumped back as Coraline yelled out, "AAAAH! What are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry," the skeleton answered as he blushed, amazingly without blood vessels on his face, and scratched the back of his head, as he shyly looked at her, "It's just that, well… you smell really great. What is that, a new perfume?"

'Oh great, an undead walking skeleton's falling for me,' Coraline thought, 'Why'd I wear this perfume if I'd known that the walking dead would be attracted?' she snapped out of her thoughts as she heard the bike's engine purr again, as she got back onto her feet. She then saw the skeleton boy get his bike ready, and revved it up as he made sure that two black duffel bags were safely strapped on. She looked to him as she got her bag back on, "Hey, where you going?"

"To Hollow's Eve Academy," the skeleton answered. "Today's my first day in Monster High." he stopped for a moment, as he looked at the confusion on her face, he asked, "What? You don't know? Hollow's Eve Academy's a school, from kindergarten to College, for monsters. Living or non-living; human or non-human."

And with that, he sped off on his bike, leaving a dust trail behind him as he went into town. Coraline just stood there, completely frozen in shock, and standing straight as a 2x4 board of wood would if it were standing up. A sweat drop appeared on her forehead, as her mouth twitched into a half grin. And then, she finally screamed out, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?"

* * *

**Halloween Town**

* * *

As soon as Coraline reluctantly walked from the town and straight towards the school, she was scared beyond belief. The skeleton boy that she had met had made mentioned of this place being a school for monsters and ghosts. She didn't believe them at first, but as soon as she walked through the town, she noticed its inhabitance. They were all monsters; large, small, solid, slime, ghost, any and every type of variety. Coraline was close to pissing herself silly at how scared she was. But as she walked through the town, all the monsters greeted her with much kindness and friendliness. Amazingly to the young blonde, that was strangely unbecoming of the monsters that she read in books and in horror movies.

"I guess this place… isn't really so bad," the blonde told herself. But even though she told herself this, she was still a little unsure about all this.

It was only a little while later, she had reached the school. The school was just like any other high school; a relic from the 1950s. Except it looked like a combination of castles mashed together, and was as large as ten football fields. With its six story window doorway and impressive six story height, it would have passed on as a college to anyone else. The school was constantly decorated with Halloween decoration, from the inside and the outside. Teen monsters of all shapes and sizes were entering the school, just as the late bell rang. And Coraline was one of the many that went in there. But for her position, she was the only human to ever enter it.

* * *

**Later On**

**Hollow's Even Academy**

**Home Room**

* * *

It had taken him some time, and a lot of courage not to run away from all the monsters that she saw, but Coraline managed to find her classroom. She had lost track of that Skeleton Boy at the welcoming ceremony since he had to park his bike and vanished without a trace. It was then a rapid assignment, a quick move in to her new room, which looked normal to her thankfully, and here she was.

"Okay!" the teacher cheered. "Welcome to Hollow's Eve Academy!"

When Coraline got a good look at her homeroom teacher, she had to admit that if she had a teacher like this back home, the boys would have definitely paid better attention to her. This teacher had a dynamite body, fair skin, short blonde hair, a spaghetti strap top and a short skirt. She sported a pair of cute glasses on her face and parts of her hair looked like cat ears. Coraline thought to herself, 'She doesn't look like a monster,' But then to surprise her any further, a cat's tail was sticking out from her skirt. The blonde grumbled as she sat down, 'I stand corrected.'

"My name is Miss Katsy!" the catty teacher continued to announce, "I'll be your homeroom teacher for your first year in Hollow's Eve Academy." Coraline had to admit that the good cheer in the room was infectious. Even she was feeling ready to cheer, and nearly forgot all her fears and worries.

"As you and everyone else have guessed, this is a school for monsters! Now, like it or not, humans run the world and we have to learn to coexist with them," Miss Katsy explained. "This is the purpose of Hollow's Eve Academy, to coexist with the human world!" she then cheerfully squealed as her ears twitched, and her tail wagged a lot in happiness, "But also… we're here to learn and train better in our natures. For our job is to bring and spread the joy that is our favorite holiday: Halloween!"

Coraline was a little surprised by this as her face conveyed that surprise, 'These guys celebrate Halloween?' she smirked at this as she pulled out her Coraline, while doodling in her empty notebook, . He was just as thankful that no one had any idea that she wasn't a monster… and actually a human. For some reason, she felt that she was gonna have a rough time trying to blend in to this school, much less this entire town.

"But Teach," another kid growled. "Can't we just eat the humans? I could start with the cute girls." everyone turned their attention to a boy, around fifteen, built like a line backer, and dressed in biker gear of sorts. He had brown hair slicked back, piercing on his face, and kept licking his lips like some kind of sicko rapist.

Coraline frowned at that comment. It was guys like him who gave non-humans a bad name. It was no wonder that people were afraid of ghosts, monsters, etc. People like the guy who spoke kept thinking their species meant they could do whatever they wanted.

"That's silly!" Miss Katsy sighed. "You won't be finding any humans here! All of the teachers and students are monsters!"

'All but _one,_' Coraline thought to himself; her fear once again raising back to the surface. She looked to her left to where the student that asked about the human eating. 'I'm gonna have to watch myself around that guy,' when she turned to look at him, he spotted her first, and gave her a little air kiss. She looked away disgusted as she groaned, 'Definitely gonna have to watch this one.'

"Which brings us to rule number one!" Miss Katsy spoke loudly. "You are not allowed to reveal your true forms to anyone if you're under disguise. Considering most of the girls are capable of hiding their forms better, the boys'll just have to refrain from fighting one another! Not even to your fellow students! We are here to learn how to coexist with humans so please keep your true forms as well as your killer instincts a secret."

"Easy," Coraline grinned. She didn't have to worry about any of that stuff, considering they all thought she was a monster.

"However," Miss Katsy cheerfully replied, "Any humans that come around this school, will be put to death." she then giggled as she naively replied, "Of course, no humans know of this place at all."

The students all chuckled at this as Coraline groaned, 'I'm so doomed…'

Her thoughts then drifted to the skeleton biker boy she'd met. 'I wonder if that guy's doing well in his class.' she then raised an eyebrow in confusion as she asked herself, 'Why do I care about that guy? I wanna live, not die in case he finds out what I am.'

"Sorry!" a familiar voice spoke up as the door opened. "I got lost after the ceremony and well…sorry I'm late!"

"That's okay, Mr. Skellington," Miss Katsy smiled. "Just take a seat anywhere."

Coraline looked to see who had come in and her eyes widened. 'Speak of the devil…' she thought as she saw it was the skeleton boy himself.

"Class, I'd like you to all meet Jack Skellington Jr. He's the son of our town's hero, Jack Skellington Senior, the Pumpkin King." Miss Katsy introduced the skeleton boy, as she looked at her roster, but then asked, "According to your information, your nickname is D.J." she looked to D.J. and asked, "Why is that?"

"Eh…." D.J. just shrugged as he answered, "I don't know. I just thought it would sound kind of cool."

He strolled in the classroom, catching his breath after apparently running to find his classroom… that is if he had _any_ breath at all. All of the boys in the room, save for Coraline, seemed to drop into trances as they watched her try to find a desk.

"It's the Pumpkin King's son,"

"That hair…"

"That eye…."

"That skeletal structure of his body…."

"No way that's a disguise," one of the girls drooled. "He's just too…"

"HANDSOME!!!" the collected girls roared. The only one who wasn't was Coraline and she was just chuckling weakly, but hid it as best she could. Apparently DJ was going to be more popular than she thought. She figured that Pumpkin King was some sort of title of Greatness, or that his dad was some sort of celebrity among other monsters. As DJ came closer, Coraline decided to be just a friend. The last thing she wanted was attention, and somebody finding out that she was human.

"Hey, you," DJ smiled, catching Coraline's attention. "I didn't expect to see you in my class."

"Huh?" Coraline blinked as she turned to who had addressed her. She broke out in a huge smile, which she had to fake, when she recognized his face. "Oh, it is you!"

DJ smirked as he winked at her with his right eye, "You're gonna luv it here in this town, City Girl." he then walked over behind her, and sat in the desk behind her. Coraline, a little surprised to see a familiar, yet creepy, face to her. Even though if he was dead or undead, it was the first time a boy ever winked at her like that. Plus, it was kind of funny to see how the other girls were reacting. In fact, she was noticing that all the girls were starting a hate-fest as they were all glaring, snarling, gnashing their teeth at her, and had a huge flaming aura behind them as they cursed at her.

"Hey! Who is that girl!?"

"How does a scrawny city-skank like her rate with a hunk like him!?"

"I heard girl monsters from the North were forward, but to catch the fancy of the Pumpkin Prince in the middle of class?!"

Coraline groaned as she rested her arms on the desk. She then thought this was a great way to start the year, 'Oh great. I was hoping to have every girl in the school. And have a scrawny skinless boy hitting on me.' she sighed as she looked at the creepy landscape that was before her, 'This… is gonna stink for me.'

* * *

**Next Chapter: New Girl in School; The Boy with the Flaming Skull pt.1**


	2. New Girl in School pt2

**For those of you who are wondering, the Coraline Jones in this story isn't the same as the one from the movie. This Coraline was based on her personality, but her appearance is reminiscent of a teenaged and non-unemotional Mandy. Also, I don't own Rosario Vampire or D. Gray-Man, or Danny Phantom either.**

* * *

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 2: New Girl in School; The Boy with the Flaming Skull pt.2**

* * *

**After Class**

* * *

"Wow!" Coraline gasped as she took in one of the main hallways of the school. "This place is so clean! Neat!" she then mumbled a bit, "Even though the halls are a bit crowded, and filled with monsters to boot."

"Yeah," DJ answered as he gave her the tour, "Tell me about it." he chuckled a bit, "I mean, the whole school's littered with them, but sometimes they can be _real_ monsters," he winked at his new friend, "If you know what I'm talking about."

After class, Coraline had wanted to explore the school and have DJ explain to her how some things in Monster Schools worked. She wasn't sure how much she knew about the school system in this town, so he took in on himself to explain things to her.

Impressively, Coraline was quickly learning in everything… including on how a skeleton like DJ was a lot stronger than he looked. Way stronger. That was proved as he accidentally pulled a door off its hinges. 'Better make sure I don't get him angry or ask for a bear hug from him,' Coraline thought as she pictured the idea of being crushed under that kind of strength.

She also noticed that he was also a singing and dancing nut. He seem to love any music he listened to and had old and new dance moves that put Michael Jackson and Gene Kelley's moves to shame. Along the way, DJ learned that she had a thing for old-fashioned buildings because of the way that they were built. He was also learning that DJ's charm for the girls wasn't solely limited to just the girls in their class. Apparently everywhere they went, Coraline could see jaws drop and eyes bulge as the skeleton boy went past them, waved at them, or even said Hi to them.

She sighed, looking away as she slightly frowned at this situation. 'Just what's so special about him?' she turned to look at DJ, who was completely oblivious to her eyes wandering around him, 'He looks like an ordinary skeleton to me. Except for the hair and eye, just an ordinary skeleton. So what's the appeal?'

She could also hear their whispers. They were either gawking over how cute she or DJ were together or were grumbling about how he was holding hands with her. A couple were really pissed off that it was a country girl like her that was deciding to spend her time him. She sighed about this as she thought, 'Dad warned that some girls wouldn't exactly be thrilled with girls who get the popular guys," so Coraline figured she had to watch her back, 'I'm really gonna have to be careful around this place… especially considering that anyone or everyone could tear me apart with either a whip of their tails, or bite my head off with one chomp.'

DJ looked to his blonde friend, and noticed she seemed a bit jittery at this point. "Hey," DJ asked, "You okay?"

"Huh?" Coraline asked, her thoughts interrupted as she turned to look to the skeleton beside her.

"You look pretty out of it."

"Oh, it's nothing," Coraline lied as they continued to walk on, DJ completely leaving it at that. She then gulped as she screamed and panicked in her head, 'I'M TOTALLY SCREWED!!! HOW THE HELL AM I GONNA SURVIVE A WHOLE THREE YEARS HERE WITHOUT GETTING DISCOVERED?'

* * *

**Afterwards**

* * *

Coraline and DJ soon stopped at a vending machine for some drinks. DJ got himself what the blonde girl could only guess was some kind of concoction between slime and some other monster stuff. While luckily, Coraline got herself a can of tomato juice. She told him that she loved tomato juice, making DJ think she was some kind of vegetarian vampire of sorts.

"So," the skeleton boy asked as he sat down on one of the benches, "…how do you like Hollow's Eve Academy so far?" asked DJ.

"It's a whole lot different from the schools back where I come from," said Coraline honestly. 'We certainly don't have gargoyle dogs for guard dogs at most schools. Much less a giant spider as our janitor,' Coraline grimily thought to herself, trying to avoid DJ's eye from looking at her grimace.

"So, do you like it?"

"What's not to like?" she shrugged as she somewhat half-lied. "Life is all about new experiences. That's what my neighbors, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, always say."

"You and your neighbors must be really close," DJ admired.

"We are. I mean, me, my parents, and all the neighbors at the Pink Palace," Coraline admitted. And then strangely, she asked, "What about you?"

"Well, me and my dad are pretty close. My mom too," DJ sheepishly admitted. "In fact, I want to be just like my dad in some ways. It was when he told me about this certain night that I gained a lot of admiration for him."

"Why?" asked Coraline.

"Um…" DJ gulped, not sure if he should tell her about it. He decided to change the subject, "That's a pretty long story." it was then that he too turned away, and grimaced, 'A _very long_ one. One that involved his father nearly ruining one holiday just to try and do something new.'

It was then that Coraline felt rather envious of DJ. He was close with his family, unlike herself. She really wished her family was like his. Even though she knew that they were skeletons like him, they really sounded like good people. As they were talking, the same long-haired young man with a lip piercing came around the corner and leaned on the wall behind Coraline.

"Hey, babe," the boy said as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and looking at Coraline. This caused Coraline to spew out her tomato juice as she nearly freaked out from his appearance. "Coraline Jones, right? Man, looks like I'm not the only one who thinks you're cute."

"Um, thanks," Coraline nodded, gulping nervously at this fellow. "And… you are?"

"Ah, the name's Sampson," the boy introduced with a lecherous grin. "I'm one of your classmates."

"Oh…um, yeah, I remember. You're the one who suggested we eat all the humans," Coraline sweat dropped as she nodded. "Good to meet you…I suppose."

"I'm sure. By the way," Sampson grinned before he reached out and suddenly grabbed DJ by the lapel of his jacket. Coraline gasped in shock while DJ struggled with the other and bigger teen's strength. "Why is a girl like you hanging out with a complete wimp like this?"

Coraline went wide eyed with worry, but then frowned as she scowled the brute, "Put him down now!"

"Whatever you say," Sampson smirked, and then threw DJ really hard at the wall, casuing him to fall to pieces… literally. He then turned to Coraline and grabbed her wrist roughly, smirking, "C'mon, Babe. Wanna play hookie and go out on the town?"

Coraline struggled to break free of the big bully's grip, shouting, "Leave me alone! Let me go! LET ME GO!"

Suddenly, a bowling ball-sized object was thrown straight into Sampson's head, knocking him silly as well as letting Coraline go. Sampson cringed in pain as the object fell towards Coraline and instinctively she caught it. When she got a good look at it, it was DJ's head; she nearly freaked out by this turn of events but held it together, as she saw DJ's body pulled itself together and stomped over to her side. DJ's body rubbed the wrinkles out of his jacket and DJ's head returned Sampson's glare with his own, even as Coraline still head his head in her hands. "I don't think the lady appreciates the gesture," DJ spat at the bully, "So just back off."

"You want to make something of it, Bone-Boy?" Sampson glared.

"What if I do?" remarked DJ, returning the glare with his own. It was pretty evident that the skeleton boy hated bullies. They just picked on people weaker than them; at this point, DJ had to learn to stand up for himself. The two stared down on each other in the eye without flinching. Monster or not, Coraline knew that Sampson was like every other typical bully that she eventually had to put up with.

However, not really in the mood for fighting or getting in trouble with the staff, she immediately got between the two boys. "I'm sorry about this sudden rush," Coraline chimed in as she slammed DJ's head back on his neck, "But we're in a hurry! Bye!" She grabbed DJ's arm and dragged the protesting skeleton boy away quickly to safety.

Meanwhile, Sampson just glared at the two disappearing, even as a can of tomato juice rolled to his feet. Suddenly, a long whip like tongue lashed out at the can, and snatched it up. A big gooey splash sound was heard as tomato juice splattered on the ground, like human bean juice.

* * *

**Academy Rooftop**

* * *

Taking refuge on the academy's rooftop, were most teens would go to get away, Coraline took a moment to catch her breath while DJ tried to smooth his uniform out or make sure that all his bones were put together right. He was also trying to keep his temper in check. The blonde could tell that he really hated bullies.

"Woo! That was scary!" Coraline sighed, trying to hide her fear. She then turned to her friend, as she asked, "Weren't you scared at all?"

"Nah," DJ grinned. "Believe it or not, there are way scarier things than him in this town." he then frowned as he stated, "Besides, I REALLY don't like bullies; they treat other people so shamefully."

"Well, it was really nice of you," Coraline smiled brightly, "Thank you!"

"Ah, I'd do it again in a heartbeat," DJ smiled. "You're my friend aren't you?"

It was when he said that, did Coraline become stunned by that comment. Her cheeks slightly blushed by this turn of events, even though she didn't understand why. She didn't think she could smile any brighter if she tried; even though he was on the undead side, DJ was really turning out to be a wonderful friend, as she smiled, "Thanks."

DJ smirked by that, "No problem. I don't want my only friend to get in trouble."

Coraline giggled and stepped forward to stand in front of DJ. She had a shy blush on her cheeks and she averted her gaze. DJ couldn't help but think she was even cuter when she did it.

"Well… truth be told, you're actually my first friend ever," she sighed as she turned away, "I'm not too good at making friends," Coraline admitted. "And besides…"

"Besides what?" asked DJ.

"You're actually the first person to stand up for me," Coraline smiled with a flush on your face. "Usually I try to avoid getting hit on like that, especially from guys like that."

Rubbing his neck, DJ joked, "Glad I could be of service. Good to know a scrawny guy like me could be used as a bodyguard… considering I've got a hard head to throw at bullies."

The young blonde giggled again. Taking part in the laughs, the two friends and his new friends just looked at the view of Halloween Town from the roof. It was then that an awkward silence took root, but DJ broke it as he looked to Coraline. "By the way, Coraline," began DJ. "What kind of monster are you?"

Coraline's fears began again as she nearly paled at that question. She gulped as she turned to look at DJ "Isn't that against the rules?" she reminded, her voice having a tint of nervous fear behind it.

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" DJ chuckled with embarrassment, "But you already know I'm a skeleton so I thought it'd be alright."

"I'm… a bit more complex," she told him. "And, well, even as a skeleton, you really don't look all that frightening to me."

"Oh, that's because of this seal on my wrist," DJ said, as he pulled up his right arm, allowing a small chain to dangle down. As Coraline got a good look at it, it was a simple silver chain, with a devil skull on it; the face was a frightening visage. The face on it was pretty scary; just looking at it nearly made all the blood run cold. Pointing at the cross hanging from his wrist chain as he confessed, "This thing was slapped on my wrist when I was just a little skeleton for some odd reason. My mother said I couldn't take it off until I was ready. She said when it does get taken off, I can get REALLY scary."

"I find that hard to believe," Coraline laughed but she'd learnt to never disregard such information. When she stopped her laugh, she looked at DJ for a moment, but in that moment, a flash struck DJ for a second, nearly showing a frightening visage of him that nearly made her pale.

DJ stopped smiling as he saw her face, and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just…." she lied as she stepped back, "I just gotta get going," and ran off, heading towards the stairwell, leaving the skeleton boy in confusion.

She ran down the stairs and into the halls, running into the students as she couldn't help but look at them. They were all monsters, ghosts, and other things that went bump in the night. Some didn't hide their forms, while others were in human form. She ran for it, as her eyes were wide with fear as the same thoughts screamed in her head, 'I can't stay here! It's a school, town… no, a whole world full of monsters! I'm just a human girl; I shouldn't even be here!' her eyes nearly teared up as she ran out of the school, 'I can't stay here! I just cant stay here!'

* * *

**Outside Halloween Town**

* * *

Coraline stood at the edge of the town, with her suitcases and her backpack. She looked at the town in even more fear than usual. Popping out of her bag, Cheshire looked at the town as well, and then purred at Coraline, almost urging her to stay there, in trying to conquer her fear of this place in an attempt to start her schooling. "No, Cheshire," Coraline answered as she scratched him behind the ears, "I can't stay here; I don't belong in this world." she then grabbed her bags and turned around, heading out of town.

"Coraline, wait!" a voice cried out, making her stop in her tracks as she turned around. It was DJ, as he ran after her and stopped as the two were close enough. He looked at her as he saw the bags, and looked in concern at her as he asked, "Coraline? What are you doing with your bags?"

She turned around, not wanting to see his face at this point as she answered, "I can't go to this school, DJ." she then nearly lost her breath as she replied, "I'm… I'm going back home… to a human school."

"Huh?" DJ blinked. "A human school?" His voice nearly froze in his skeletal throat as he tried to clarify, "You mean… in the human world?"

"Yes," Coraline nodded.

"NO, YOU CAN'T!" DJ cried out. He ran to her, and tried to pull her back, but she pulled away until the two stopped struggling, with DJ gripping the handle with one hand, and Coraline holding the bag close to her, looking terrified at his reaction. "It's just that… before I was born… my dad visited the Human World." and then he looked to the young blonde, nearly horrified at the stories he heard, "They tried to blow him to smithereens when he tried to celebrate a holiday called Christmas with them."

Coraline nearly paled as she asked, "Your dad was responsible for the Christmas Nightmare?" She had only heard stories about that event when Christmas had been nearly mangled up by an imposter Santa Claus. But she never pegged it to be this boy's father.

DJ nodded as he finished, "He was lucky enough to get away with his life. Eventually when I heard the stories, I thought it would be better if we really didn't visit their world when Halloween rolled on by. Humans just hate our kind enough to want us all dead!"

Coraline flinched for a moment, feeling like she had just been punched right in the heart. She then tried to reconcile on a good term with him as she nervously smiled, "Hey, hold on there. Some humans may be hard to deal with, but they aren't all that bad."

"How can you be sure? How do you know not all humans are bad?"

Coraline then backed away, with DJ's grip off as she was far away to tell him. "Because… I'm human," she answered quickly.

"Wha-?" DJ gasped as he looked at her in shock. "You? Human? H-how?"

"I was put in this school by mistake," Coraline sighed. "I was told I was going to school here; you can thank my parents for not telling me that it was a school for monsters. Guess they spent so much time in their work and their laptops to barely even notice that they sent their daughter to a town of horrors." she then looked at DJ with fear in his eyes and sighed, as she lowered her head still. Obviously DJ was having trouble accepting the truth. Sighing, she turned his back and began heading away from him.

"Coraline?" DJ asked, still reeling from shock. However, he seemed to have a little courage, as he walked towards her, and reach out, "Is it really… ?"

"JUST STAY BACK!" Coraline shouted, still having her face lowered to the ground. Her voice quivered a bit, her heart nearly breaking as she was shunning away the only possible friend that she had in this town. But her fear got the best of her as she stated, "You said you were afraid of humans…" she then looked at him with angered and tear-filled eyes, as she shouted back, "… WELL MAYBE I'M JUST AS AFRAID OF YOU!" and with that, she took off, running into the woods.

DJ watched her go before his shoulders slumped and his lone eye was trained on the ground.

"Geez," he sighed grimly as he leaned against a tombstone. "I can scare anything, and pull myself together, but I can't keep any friends around." He stared at the graveyards. He thought very hard about it for a while; being with Coraline, even though she was human, was rather… nice.

He then brought two of his fingers to his mouth, and whistled. Suddenly, out of one of the graves, a ghost dog appeared. His whole body was like s sheet blowing in the wind, he had long ears that blew in the wind, and a jack-o'lantern for a nose, and barked friendly as it flew around DJ, making him chuckled.

"It's good to see you too, Zero," DJ replied as he pet his dog, "Look, Zero… I need you to help me find…"

A sudden shriek pierced the air and DJ recognized that voice. "Coraline!"

* * *

**Deep in the Woods**

**Close to the Tunnel Gateway**

* * *

Coraline had been crying after she had run off. She'd said such a horrible thing to him; even if he was a monster, she wouldn't have cared. 'Why did I have to be such a coward towards him?' she thought to herself as the tears kept pouring down her cheeks, 'I just don't think I can stay here! Even if I could stay here, they'll eventually find out about me.' her thoughts then thought back to when she had met DJ, and then all the times they spent at the school. In surprise, she shook her head as she told herself, "This doesn't have anything to do with him! It doesn't!" All she ever wanted was a real friend and in the process, she had run away from the only one she had made.

Coraline then stopped as she saw she had finally made it to the bus stop. She sighed in relief as she walked towards the schedule. She went to the bus stop and looked at the bus schedule before grimacing, "Aw, crap! I have to wait a month for my next ride? So much for that idea. Oh, well. Maybe if I stayed in my room for a month I'll be-"

Suddenly… she heard footsteps and spun around hopefully, "DJ? Look, I'm sorry, but I…"

She suddenly paled in fear as she saw it was not DJ.

"Hey, babe," Sampson grinned in a sick and perverse way, "Miss me?"

The overgrown brute lunged forward and grabbed Coraline by the arm. She shrieked and struggled, but Sampson was much stronger than she was in her disguise. Pulling her back deeper into the woods he threw her against some tombstones as she yelped from being struck before shedding his jacket.

"Sorry," Sampson snickered as his body started to swell and his teeth began to sharpen. "I can never seem to hold my disguise when I get riled up."

Cheshire jumped out as he hissed at Sampson; Coraline groaned as she sat back up, and then trembled in fear as Sampson's body go from a human pink to a disgusting green as he grew ridges on his shoulders, chest, elbows, knees and his muscles bulged, with his fingernails and toenails grew sharp. She didn't know what he was but to those who have seen Lord of the Rings trilogy, they would have pointed out that this guy was an orc, a vicious and mutilated Elf related to the Monstrel series of monsters, known to be sort of mutt monsters, who could change their bodies into weapons and possess abilities no other monsters ever had. They were mean creatures who didn't bow down to anyone, and would only do so… when they were killed, which was impossible.

"Hey, we're all monsters here," Sampson snickered as his tongue reached out inhumanly towards her, nearly wrapping around her, but not even touching her as she cringed and shook with fear. "Now gimmie a kiss."

"Noooooooooooo!!" Coraline cried in fear.

"Hey! Ugly!" DJ snapped aloud as he arrived, along with Zero. Sampson, and a surprised Coraline, looked up from where he was attempting to take advantage of her. "Get you hands off Coraline!"

"Hmph!" Sampson snorted. "And what is some bone-boy going to do about it? I heard your type of monsters are so weak anyway."

"Yeah right," DJ frowned. "Last warning. Let Coraline go."

"Make me!" Sampson snorted.

"No DJ!" Coraline cried, struggling against from nearly having the enlarged tongue nearly wrap around her. "Please run! He'll tear you apart!"

"Not my style," DJ frowned. He ran towards Sampson as he was attempting to slug him one. However, he was swatted away by only one hand, slamming into the trees.

"Give up yet?" asked Sampson with a smirk as he stomped over, cracking his knuckles.

"No…way!" DJ snapped as he got up, right before Sampson ran up to him getting up as he unleashed a powerful uppercut into the skeleton's chin, knocking the boy back further into the trees.

The angry orc continued his attack by tackling DJ and smashing him into several tombstones and a tree.

"Agh!" the skeleton boy groaned as he shook the stars out of his head. Zero floated over to his side as he whimpered; DJ petted him on the head, "I know, Zero. This is dangerous." he then groaned as he popped his back into place, and glared at Sampson's monstrous form, "Okay! Time to get serious!"

"DJ!" the voice of Coraline cried before the girl in question dashed to his side.

"Huh? Coraline?" he blinked. "Hey, you gotta get back! This is dangerous stuff!"

"I don't care!" Coraline cried. "I just don't want you to get hurt because of me!"

"Comes with the monster territory," DJ grunted as he began to get up. "Besides, I'm used to it."

As he was getting up, Coraline reached up to help him get up, but she missed his shoulder's grip. Instead of grabbing his arm to help him get up, she grabbed DJ's wrist chain. Oblivious to it, she pulled and with a loud metallic sound, the chain came off cleanly.

"Huh?" Coraline blinked as he looked at the cross in his hands. "Uh-oh."

DJ paled as he saw the chain pop off, "Oh boy. This can't be good."

Suddenly, the skeleton boy only had a moment to gasp before his whole form was engulfed in a dark aura. Coraline backed away a little, as suddenly, DJ's skeletal body was suddenly aflame. She covered her eyes from the mysterious flames, and peaked through her fingers to see what was happening to her friend.

Instead of crying out in pain, if he felt it, DJ laughed maniacally as he started getting up. What she was seeing was freaky to say the least. His hair and eye burned out of sight, and his teeth became sharp as fangs with his mouth twisting into a demonic grin. His skeletal body also seemed to go demonic as well, as his elbows grew out two sharp bone spikes, and on his shoulders shot out two small but sharp blade points, his knuckles shooting out spikes, and three spikes on both his shoulders. His skull was completely on fire, as nothing could be seen except the skeletal face and jaw. As DJ seemed to become more aware, Coraline could see that his eyes had become black sockets with small red flaming dots in them, and were slitted. He then let out a small but menacing roar, nearly scaring everyone all around him.

"What the HELL?!" Sampson gasped in shock but then realized what it was he was staring at. "It can't be," Sampson gasped. "The aura, those flames; an S-Class monster! The Ghost Rider!"

Coraline gaped in complete amazement at what she was looking at. She couldn't believe that DJ was capable of changing his form like that… even though he was now more scarier than he was before.

"Hmph!" Sampson grunted, turning away from Coraline. "So you aren't the wuss I took you for," he pointed out, trying to hide his fear. "Don't know what the hell you are, but I'm not going to allow you to mess with my fun!"

DJ, in his transformed state, stretched his arms as he cracked his knuckles and flexed his sharp fingers while popping his neck. "Looks like this might be a decent workout at least," he yawned a little, but speaking in a demonic tone, and sounding almost completely oblivious to his new form. He then smirked at the orc, and pointed to him, almost daring him, "Now, come on, orc. Didn't you wanna kill me double-dead?" he taunted.

"Don't mock me!" Sampson roared as he lunged at the flaming skeleton boy. With a roar, Sampson charged with his muscled arms raised. DJ gripped his fists and charged with preparation to fight back. Sampson attacked first with his sharp-knuckled fist. His huge hand reached to grab him; Coraline gasping as she watched the scene.

She covered her face, not wanting to see her friend being crushed like this, 'No, please!' The flaming skeleton reached out and grabbed the palm of the orc's hand, effectively stopping his assault without even straining.

"Urk!" Sampson grunted, trying to move his arm.

Coraline was watching this as she was in complete amazement "No way," she gaped.

"What's wrong? Didn't you wanna beat me to a pulp?" DJ asked mockingly as he smirked with his flame-engulfed jaw. "Typical. All size and nothing else."

Sampson growled as he shouted, "DON'T TOY WITH ME, BONE BOY!" and then threw his other fist at him. However, DJ caught that one as well, and now it was a test of each other's strength as both tried to push at one another. In a flurry of movement, DJ used his strength to pull Sampson's arms apart from him, and gave him a powerful head butt, which slammed into Sampson's head. The orc cried in pain as he was sent sailing through several trees with loud crashes. Coraline was pretty sure that she had seen some of his teeth fly out of his mouth too. She could only blink at what he had seen DJ accomplish.

"Wow," she blinked.

"Next time… don't piss me off by treating my friends so shamefully," DJ growled at the downed orc.

Turning to the human being, he noticed that she seemed even more freaked out now that his attention was to her. Then suddenly, his entire body flamed out, and before Coraline knew it, he returned to his normal skeletal form, with hair, eye, and all. He then looked to Coraline, as he replied, "You can't leave, Coraline."

Finding enough strength to stand up, she stood there, and asked, "Why's that?"

"Because if you leave…" DJ smirked sadly as he told her the truth, "… then life here's just gonna get boring if I don't have a friend to spend the school years with."

Coraline shook her head as she stated with a sad smile, "You'll make other friends. Those who aren't human."

"Yeah," he then walked towards her and stopped as he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him in the eye, "But I want you as my friend, Coraline Jones."

The young blonde was close to tears as she heard those words. She sniffed a little, as she brushed a tear away as she looked to her skeletal friend, "Even if she's a human… Jack Skellington Jr.?"

"First of all, you can call me DJ," he joked as he seriously told her, "And secondly… the whole monster vs. humans things? I don't really buy into it." he then winked with his empty eye, "And thirdly… you're too cute to be scary."

Coraline chuckled at that, "Thanks, DJ," suddenly, she heard friendly barking fly all around them, and finally saw Zero as he floated in between the two. She giggled as he licked her face affectionately, "Ahaha, stop it! You're tickling me." he then stopped as DJ scratched his dog's back, while Coraline petted him on the head and rubbed his ears, which he liked, as she cooed, "Ohhh, what a cutie."

"You should have seen him with fur," DJ joked.

Almost popping into her head, she remembered the chain as she still held onto it. "Oh right," she chimed as she pulled it up, "I think you want this back, right?"

DJ looked at it, and smiled as he shook his head, "Nah, it's okay. My mom said I'd take it off when I'm ready enough to control my power. Seems like today was a good day to do it."

As the two were talking to one another, becoming friends again, they didn't notice the bus at the tunnel's end. The driver, who had taken Coraline to this place, smirked as his face was covered in shadows, "Looks like you'll be doin' fine here, girl."

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Hollow's Eve Academy**

* * *

The next day, surprisingly, Coraline arrived back at the school with high spirits. Walking through the gate, she whistled a tune that sounded like the rhyme she had sung in the forest on the day she had arrived. She was no longer afraid to be here anymore now.

"Coraline!" she heard and turned around to see DJ running towards her.

"Oh, hey, DJ!" she waved. "Morning."

"Check this out!" he shouted as he pulled out something from his backpack. It was a shrunken as DJ smirked, "I found this near the lake yesterday. Thought it might make a good dorm-warming gift."

"ACK!" Coraline exclaimed as she nearly lost if from seeing the shrunken head. Looks like his days in Hollow's Eve Academy weren't going to be dull after all.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Choosing Houses; the B.L.O.B and Spider-Girl**


	3. The BLOB and Spider Girl

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Choosing Houses; the B.L.O.B and Spider-Girl**

* * *

**Hollow's Eve Academy**

**The Next Day**

**Girls Dorm**

* * *

The girls dorm was located in the far corner of the academy, next to the boys dorm. Coraline's room was a single bed room, living quarters and kitchen and bathroom. The alarm clock went off as she slammed the alarm off. She groaned as she finally got up, groaning with her hair messed up; she was dressed in a white spaghetti strapped nightgown that ended at her knees. She scooted off the bed she was in as she sat up, and stretched out the kinks in her back. She looked around as she took in her new room; the bags had not been unpacked but the room looked pretty good. Still there were some designs on it that were a bit Halloween-ish for her.

Suddenly, Cheshire jumped on to her bed and rubbed himself next to her. Coraline smirked as she petted her cat, "Hey, Cheshire," she scooped up the little furball as she rubbed him cheek-to-cheek, "Glad to know you slept well last night." the two then looked at the calendar, and both just frowned as Coraline playfully scolded, "I know… I hate Mondays too."

After she had cleaned up and got dressed, she stepped out of her room, with Cheshire following behind her. She had come up with the idea that if her cat was with her, the other monsters around the school would get the idea that she was some sort of witch. That would help throw the suspicion that she was a human a lot better than just saying she was a vampire or something.

As she walked down the halls, she saw the other girls leaving for the school house as well. As she looked at them, she couldn't help but smirk at this change of pace. Most of the male monsters she had seen were all in their true forms. But the girls, they were all in human disguise, which she had to smirk in some way that was a huge relief for her. 'At least they don't pick a fight with one another,' she smirked as she pulled her backpack on her shoulders. 'Good thing they don't go for each other's throats like that Sampson guy.'

As Coraline and her cat walked down the hallway, she didn't notice a pair of eyes watching out on her in the dark. Then in a flash, they disappeared as the rest of the girls rushed to the one place they were heading for today: Sorting Day.

* * *

**Main Hall**

* * *

All the students were all gathering there for the main event: being inducted or sorted into their school house. Apparently Coraline had heard that some schools did this in Europe; sort of school house teams. She squeezed on through the students, trying to make her way through to find a place to stand or sit. Then suddenly, she felt something smoosh under her feet; she cringed as she heard it bubble and ooze. "Ewwww," she cringed and whined, "Please tell me I didn't step in puss. Or worse…"

She looked down, and saw that she was standing in a light blue puddle of what appeared to be slime of sorts. Freaking out, she jumped out of the puddle as she looked around, "Who'd leave a puddle here?"

Suddenly, the slime puddle gurgled and slushed upward, taking shape. Suddenly, it was a three and a half foot creature, with the bottom as a conglomerate of the blob slime, and the upper half a thin torso, with arms enlarged at the forearms and hands with two bulbous fingers and thumb. Its neck was one foot elongated with a bulb for a head, and a lone green eye, while wearing an orange ballcap on its head. The creature then simply said in a happy-than-smart tone, "Hi, I'm Bobby."

Following fear instincts, she screamed, "AAAAH! BLOB MONSTER!" and then, acting on instinct, she spun kicked him, causing his upper half to become separated from his body.

"Coraline, wait!" a famliar voice called out as someone pushed through. Coraline saw that it was DJ, much to her delight. However, the skeleton boy seemed a bit distressed as he stated, "Cor, why'd you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, but then remembered, "Oh that, well you see…."

"AAAAH! MY BACK!" the slime creature shouted, as his upper half reformed back into a torso, arms, and head as its lone eye looked terrified at seeing himself split in half. However, the look was dropped by a smile as he looked at the two, "Just kidding! I don't have a back!" and then he slurped himself back to the other half, making himself whole again as he chuckled moronically.

Then DJ walked up to the blob, as he gave him a double thumbs up, "Yo, B.o.!"

"You, Bone-Daddy!" the blob now known as Bobby did the same.

"Haven't seen you this past week," DJ stated as he held out his hand, "Give me some goo there, Bobster." and then, instead of giving DJ a high five or low five, Bobby did exactly what he asked. He slapped DJ's hand, and left him a snowball sized glob of his slime. "Um… thanks, Bobby." DJ responded, looking a little grimaced as he shook the slime out of his hand.

Coraline, not understanding this, walked over to her skeletal friend and asked, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah," DJ answered as he introduced her to his friend, "Coraline Jones, this is Bobby. Nickname for B.O.B, which is an acronym for Bio-polymorphic Organic Bio-organism. He's basically the end result of a mad scientist's experiment between combining a radioactive fruit and a genetically-altered dessert topping." he smirked as the two looked and saw Bobby playing with his eyeball like a basketball, and laughing moronically. He sighed as he finished, "He's pretty much an indestructible gelatinous mass that doesn't eat living people, but anything he can. Downside is, well as you've seen, he has no brain."

"Yeah, pretty much," Bobby answered as he slithered over to them, "Turns out though, you don't need one. It's totally overrated; I don't see what the big…" but then he stopped as he gasped. Then his gut shrank some more as he started gasping; his eye growing big with panic as he wheezed out, "I can't breathe, I can't… I forgot how to breathe!" he then frantically grabbed DJ by the shoulders as he pleaded, "DJ! DJ, help me!"

"Bobby!" DJ calmed down his friend as he grabbed his friend by the shoulders, "You don't have to breathe. You don't have lungs."

For a moment, Bobby let that information sink in, until he huffed with relief, returning to normal. "Oh yeah," he said as he chuckled with relief, "Thanks, DJ. You're a lifesaver."

DJ looked at a stunned Coraline as he thumbed towards his blobbish friend, "See what I mean?"

"Why are you wasting your time with these idiots, DJ?" a voice asked from their side, as all three turned to face it. The voice who had spoken up was a girl, fourteen with a fabulous figure, dressed in a Japanese schoolgirl outfit. Her skin was pale green, and her hair was black and scaly, almost as if it were a cluster of snakes growing out of her head, and her eyes were yellow with green pupils with black slits. And her teeth were bright and shiny, with her canines long and sharp, almost looking like snake fangs. "Honestly, DJ," the girl stated in a fake concerned tone, "You don't need to help a charity case like him."

"Uh, excuse me," Coraline stated as she stepped up, "I don't know who you think you are, but not having a brain doesn't make Bobby a charity case."

The snake girl chuckled as she looked to Coraline mockingly, and then to DJ, "DJ, I didn't know you were seeing jailbait."

The blonde was about to lunge at her, in an attempt to gauge our her eyes, but DJ stopped her in time. He then looked to the girl as he replied, "She's my friend, Viper."

"Well, that's a bit of good news," Viper chimed as she relaxingly swayed her way to Coraline as she stated. "Just so you know, new girl… DJ's a bit out of your league." she then extended her hand out for a handshake, "However, seeing that you're new here, I'm willing to share a bit of info for you. You'll soon find out that some monster families in this town are far more better than others. It's best that you don't make friends with the wrong sort." she then let out a small smirk as she finished, "I can help you and DJ out on there."

Coraline looked at the hand, and then at the girl. She could already tell this girl was gonna be bad news, but considering she was a monster, she wasn't gonna be high school evil… she was just evil, evil. So she just huffed as she replied, "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself. But thanks, anyway."

The two girls then stared down one another, almost about to bite each other's heads off. Then, Miss Katsy, completely oblivious to the girls' silent fight, stepped up and cheerfully announced, "Okay, everyone. We're ready to sort you into your houses." the students paid close attention as they looked to them as she went on, "For you first time freshman, allow me to explain. There are four houses in this school: Monstars, which is home to where most of our famous monsters have come from. Hufflepuff, from where all our magic-using creatures of the night are trained. Gargoyleclaw, for our most powerful gain their education. And finally, and I'm sure that most of you already know what this house is famous for… Creeperin." she then cleared her throat as she finished, "In these houses, your classmates and friends… will be like family to you one and all. Work together as a family, you will earn points. Any rule breaking, and you'll be deducted points. The house with the most points at the end of the year, will be awarded the House Jack O'Lantern Cup."

"Creeperin?" Coraline asked in a whispered tone as she turned to face DJ and asked, "What's that house famous for?"

"Well, you ever heard of the Boogie Man, the Creeper, or maybe even, um… Pennywise?" DJ asked in the same hush tone. Coraline shook her head as DJ answered, "That's because they're the most notorious criminals in our world. And every one of them went to that school house."

"Okay, everyone. Step lively," Miss Katsy announced as they all stood at the ready, and looked in front behind Miss Katsy to view the staff. At the staff, were a few monster creatures that seemed normal, but not much.

One was a scientist in a wheelchair, with sunglasses and looked like his skull was designed to open up on a whim. The other was a stout fellow, with a top hat five times as big as him, and looked like he had two faces; one sad and the other happy. He was currently on the happy face at this time. The other teacher appeared to be a fellow in a black leather getup, pale and bald, with nails driven into his head. The other was a beautiful brunette witch of sorts, dressed in a black and yellow witch getup, and a black witch's hat. The other teacher, appeared to be a bloated fellow dressed in a white tuxedo trench coat, a black top hat, blue, elf ears, with bottle glasses, and a massive overbite stuck in a permanent smile. The other individual was a man in a black trench coat, white silver hair slicked back, and carrying a cane with a skull top on it. From a bizarre scene, he seemed to hate the light as his section of the room was darkened. And finally, the head of the school, was a man in a white cloak ensemble, with a few chains wrapped around his waist, arms, and a necklace Rosario around his neck. The man's face was completely overshadowed by the hood pulled over his eyes, but it was evident that he was human by his skin… or at least appeared human.

"Now before we begin…" Miss Katsy announced, "The Head Master of the Academy, Father Cross, would like to say a few things."

The white cloaked fellow stood up as he looked to the students, and announced, "I just have a few start-off term notices I wish to announce. Freshmen, please note that the Dark Forest beyond the edge of the graveyard is strictly forbidden for all students during dusk. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Grundy, has asked me to remind you all that the 13th floor corridor is out of bounds… for all those who do not wish to die a horrible and painful death." the students were all quiet, nearly freaking out by such news as they gulped. "Thank you," the head master finished as he sat down.

Miss Katsy nodded as she brought out a list, and she looked at the students, "When I call your name, come up here, and be seated." She pointed to a seat with an old witch's hat as she stated, "The Sorting Hat will sort you to your houses." she looked at the list, and called out, "Lydia Deedsly."

As soon as the name was spoken, a girl who went by that name stepped up. She was a pale girl with black hair as long as Coraline's but tied up in a ponytail by a purple ribbon with a spider badge on it. Her figure was just like Coraline's, slim and not yet developed as a teenager's should be. Her eyes were violet as well, with dark purple eye shadow, and had purple lipstick. She was wearing a tight full body black footsie, turtleneck skin suit that exposed her fingers, with a red poncho top and a poncho-style skirt, with black webbing designs on it.

She stepped up and sat in the chair, as the Cat Woman teacher placed the ratty old hat on her head. Suddenly, the hat came to life, using the wrinkles to form a face, as it spoke out, "Hmmm, let me see here." the hat then smirked as he announced, "Monstars!" the students cheered out as Lydia stepped down to meet with her house students.

"B.O.B."

The Blue blob slithered up on to the podium and onto the chair as the hat was placed on his head. The hat frowned for a moment as he mumbled, "Mmmmm… not much brains to work with on this one. But a stick-to-it attitude and a voracious appetite… Monstars!"

"Miss Viper M. Edusa," Viper walked up and sat in the chair. But before the hat could be placed on her head, the hat announced before he was even six inches from her head, "Creeperin!"

Coraline frowned as she gulped, "I guess it's gonna be watch my back with her from now on."

"Jack Skellington Jr."

DJ took a deep breath, as he looked to Coraline. The blonde merely smirked as she patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

"Hope so."

He then walked up and sat in the chair as the others did. Miss Katsy, as well as the staff, eagerly watched, as she placed the cap on his head. Suddenly, the Hat came back to life as he called out, "Ah! Another Skellington," he then chuckled as he announced, "I know just where to put you…" he was silent for a moment as he announced, "… MONSTARS!" DJ sighed with relief as he got down and joined up with his friends once more.

"Coraline Jones"

The blonde human gulped, not really knowing what to expect at this point. She didn't know if the hat would see right through her, or put her in the wrong house. However, she gained enough courage as she walked up the stairs and sat in the chair. This time, it was the priest Head Master, who went unnoticed, looked at the girl with interest as he scratched his chin in curiosity. Miss Katsy placed the sorting hat on top of her head; Coraline looked out at the crowd, and gave DJ a nervous look on her face. However, he returned to her two thumbs up and a smile, which she returned the smile to him.

The hat then came to life, with a quandary on his face as he spoke out, "Hmmmm…. Difficult, very difficult," he then cocked a wrinkled eyebrow as he spoke out, "Not quite certain what monster you are… " Coraline gulped, but was relieved when she heard what came next, "However, you seem to possess some hidden talents, a thirst for knowledge, and a yearning to prove yourself… but where to put you…"

The blonde human closed her eyes as she whispered in prayers, "Not Creeperin, not Creeperin…"

"Not Creeperin, eh?" the hat asked, as he convinced her, "Are you sure? You could be great; almost as great as the Pumpkin King himself. And Creeperin will help you on the way to greatness." however, the girl was silent, but still chanting quietly not to be in Creeperin. The hat sighed, "No, eh?" he then smirked as he announced, "Better be… MONSTARS!"

The students all cheered at Coraline as she stepped down… and being greeted with a big slimy hug from Bobby. As soon as he hugged her, she slimed out of it instantly like someone grabbing a wet bar of soap. She ran over to DJ and gave him a hug to boot. When she broke the hug, the blonde noticed the Head Master, looking right at her and tipped his hood to her. She didn't know why, but there was just something funny about that.

* * *

**Afterwards**

**In the Schoolyards**

* * *

The school was hustling and bustling as it always did every day in the 'Town of Halloween'. However, another scene went a little unnoticed by anyone, as Coraline came walking outside to get a breather from today's sorting. Truth be told, she was grateful that she was put in the House of Monstars, and not in that creepshow house Creeperin. However as she stood for a moment of relief of a day's worth of school stress, she noticed someone standing right next to her. She turned and smiled as she was next to none other than her recovered friend, DJ.

"Hey," she casually smiled, almost for the first time as she asked, "So how's the shoulder been holding up?"

"Oh, not that bad," DJ groaned a bit as he rubbed his sore neck, and arched his back a bit to get out a few kinks as it cracked immensely, "Though it's still a little sore, somewhat," he groaned as he half-smirked, "."

Coraline couldn't help but smirk at that, or at him. Out of all the people that could have gone to help her in her time of need when that creep Sampson attacked her, it was him that pulled her out of that nightmare. And in just a few seconds or so, she surprised him by jumping at him, and hugging him. Slightly startled by the hug, DJ asked, "Um… okay… what's with the hugging?"

"Just a temporary thing for now," Coraline answered as she rested her head on his shoulder, "Just to let you know this is a 'thank you' from yesterday."

DJ just smirked at that as the two pulled apart, but then suddenly, got glomped on as he was encompassed in slime, "Hey, I wanted in on the group hug?" the skeleton boy pulled out as Coraline helped him up, with Cheshire on her shoulders as they looked to see Bobby, with his clueless smirk as always, "Cool! We got another friend in the mix! That makes us the Three Monsterteers, right?"

DJ brushed himself off a bit as he walked over to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Actually we're the dynamic duo, plus one princess," he turned to look at Coraline as he stated, "We're still on the works for a group name."

"Princess?" then Bobby looked at Coraline for a moment, and then to DJ as he pointed out, "You mean a 'she'?" He shook his head as he pointed to her, "No way! She's a boy; I mean, look at his boobies."

Coraline and DJ retained a moment of silence at this point, looking at Bobby stupefied. After a moment of being silent, DJ placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, and monotonely replied, "We need to have a talk."

* * *

**Afterwards **

* * *

After a long discussion with Bobby on the details of the differences between girls and boys, DJ was walking out by the lake near the academy. He and Coraline were going to eat lunch later on, along with Bobby whom would probably eat everything. Frankly, DJ wondered how Coraline was gonna eat their food exactly. It wasn't much or less normal lunch food to them, but for Coraline… well, they would figure something out. After all, there were a few foods for the more human creatures among the school. Still, he wasn't going to argue eating lunch with a cute girl like her. The young blonde had a few things to do before she could join her friend, but DJ was more than willing to wait for her.

"Ohhhhh," a soft voice moaned from the trees.

"Huh?" DJ blinked as he turned to where he had heard the voice come from.

What he found was a female student stumbling out from the trees. It was the girl, Lydia Deedsly, and she seemed to almost be suffering from exhaustion or dizzy spell, considering she was on all fours, breathing heavily. DJ got to her as he knelt down beside her, "Hey, are you… are you okay?"

The girl, Lydia, who looked like she had suffered from anemia, slowly looked up to him. When she opened her eyes, she innocently looked at him. At that moment, DJ blushed at that as he helped the girl up, realizing she was pretty light due to her petite size of being two centimeters small than him. He blushed a little more as she looked to him all innocently, and then a few garbled thoughts ran into his head, 'Wow! She's… really… cute! I've never seen a girl this cute before!'

"Ohhh, I think so," Lydia moaned. "I'm just having trouble standing up."

"Oh, here then," DJ replied as he reached down. "Let me help you up. I can help you see the school nurse."

"Thank you," the girl sighed softly. She reached up and grabbed DJ's hand before allowing herself to be brought to her feet.

SMOOSH

That was before she leaned into DJ and pressed herself against him. DJ blushed an atomic red as he felt her rub against him. It was all he could do not to think impure thoughts at the wrong moment.

"I…I think it's my chest," the girl sighed. "It just feels different today."

'I'll say it's different,' DJ thought with a blush. 'I always thought girls with meat on their bones were a hassle, but… No! Bad thoughts! Don't think that way!' He shook his head, clearing away such thoughts as he gulped, looking away from her nervously "Well…um…maybe the nurse could…um…take a look."

"Oh, you're so sweet," she purred. DJ helped her walk, not aware of the scheming smirk spread across her face.

* * *

**ON the Roof**

* * *

Coraline was looking out at the school grounds, sighing to herself. At the moment, she was drinking a can of tomato juice as she stopped for a moment to think, "I'm pretty useless," she told herself, "I mean, DJ's a skeleton who flames up, Bobby's an indestructible eating machine." she then sighed as she slumped her shoulders, "And I'm just a normal human in a place full of extraordinary guys."

"I wouldn't put it at that, Coraline."

The young blonde turned sharply to hear where that voice came from. So far, looking around, she saw no one. She gulped as she wondered if that was some sort of ghost. If so, someone else had caught up to her little secret. She was close to panicking, until she saw her cat, Cheshire, walking on the balance beam. She smirked as she walked over, and petted her cat, talking to him, "Well… at least there's someone normal around here I can relate to."

"And what makes you think anything around you is normal, Coraline?" Cheshire spoke out, startling Coraline incredibly as she reeled back from him.

"Okay," Coraline shot out as she pointed out to him, freaking out, "What are you? What did you do to my cat?"

"Oh, please," Cheshire stated as he sat up, looking at Coraline credulously, "I'm not a monster or an Other Cat. I'm me."

Coraline, a little worried, walked towards her talking cat slowly. She carefully observed him, despite knowing that this was her cat, and finally asked, "Well… I can see that you don't have anything telling me you're not my cat. But if you are my cat… how can you talk?"

Cheshire just shrugged, "I just can."

"Normal cats don't talk back home."

"No?" Cheshire asked, and shrugged, "Clearly you're the expert on things like this." he then hopped off the railing and stood up, looking up at Coraline, "After all… I'm just a big ol' wuss puss."

Cupping her mouth, Coraline regretted muttering that once to him. She then apologetically stated to him, forgetting that she was still in shock, "Don't go, please. I'm sorry that I said that." she then asked, "So… how long have you been talking?"

"About as long as I've come here often," Cheshire answered as he scurried over to a pipe… and disappeared from sight. Coraline was deeply confused by that, until her cat popped up from behind her, "Cats can come and go anywhere around the world as they please." he even smirked to Coraline as he jumped right at her, with her catching him and holding him in her arms as she always did, "I even go around this school, keeping an eye on your skinny friend."

"You mean stalking DJ, right," the young blonde asked, not liking what she was hearing.

"More like, making sure he's alright," Cheshire tried to explain, "After all… that girl that was with him seems a bit mysterious to me at this moment."

"Girl?" Coraline asked, "What girl?"

* * *

**Back on School Grounds**

* * *

After a while, DJ had helped the girl, Lydia, make it back to the school grounds. They were currently walking down a patio hallway leading to the next building over. The two stopped for a moment, as DJ let the girl lean on one of the pillar bulkheads to take a breather, and he leaned next to her to do the same.

"I'm DJ by the way. Jack 'DJ' Skellington Jr.," he introduced himself.

"Oh, I know," she smiled.

"You do?" DJ blinked.

"We're classmates." Lydia answered with a smile. "Of course, any or every monster knows the son of the Pumpkin King."

"Oh yeah," DJ smirked, but then became puzzled as he asked, "We are?"

"I sit in the back of the class but you probably don't notice since your attention is always on Coraline."

"Well, she _is_ my friend," said DJ.

"Maybe I can change that," smirked Lydia as she looked deeply into his gray eye. Then suddenly, she felt faint again as she fell foward. DJ suddenly reached out to her, as he caught her. Then suddenly, she reached out and planted her lips onto his bony lips, making him go wide eye with shock. Suddenly, as she pulled away, he found himself feeling a little lightheaded. "DJ… please, would you be my friend?"

"Uhhhh," DJ mumbled, feeling lightheaded and confused. Lydia then drew her arms around him, bringing him into an embracing hug as she rested her head on his shoulder. But then he dumbfounded smirked as he answered, "Okay…" hover, his head screamed out to him, 'Wait! What's going on? Why can't I think clearly?' he then smirked idiotically as he said, "Come here, you!"

And when her eyes stopped shimmering, DJ… had this uncontrollable urge to hug and hold her in his arms. And he did so as he instantaneously hugged her, causing her to cry out in a giggle or two, "Ooo! What are you doing? You naughty boy!" and hugged him right back, progressively enjoying every second of it.

However, at that time, who would have known that walking down that way was Coraline. She had gone out of her way to see what Cheshire meant by a girl with DJ. The cat was currently on Coraline's shoulder as the two were stupefied at what they were looking at. It was only that she stopped at a crosswalk did she see it. DJ was walking away towards into town… with a girl linking her arms around him… and it wasn't as friends.

"DJ?" Coraline asked, catching both teens' attention, "Who is that?"

"My, my," Lydia teased as she asked, "Aren't we all in the same class?" she then leaned her head on to DJ's chest as she asked, "Isnt that right, DJ?"

"Yeah… same class," DJ answered, almost sounding like he was in a trance of sorts. He then returned the hug once again; his thoughts screaming at the top of his lungs, 'What is going on? I'm doing it again!'

Coraline could only stare in shock of this scene, even as Lydia looked to DJ, "C'mon, DJ. Let's go have lunch together." and led him away, without any resistance from him at all.

"Wait, DJ!" Coraline called out, looking rather worried for her friend.

"No," DJ stated in a simplified tone, "I won't wait for you. I'm not gonna be a shield for you to hide behind." and with that, the two left Coraline behind, with her blushing iwht embarrassment, and from shock of what he had said to her.

Cheshire, who was watching the whole scene from his owner's shoulders, looked at Lydia in particular. He narrowed his blue eyes at the girl, deep in thought as he looked at her. 'Hmmm,' he thought to himself, 'There's something oddly familiar about her…'

* * *

**Next Chapter: Coraline's Hidden Talents; Rivals in What?**


	4. Rivals in What? pt1

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Coraline's Hidden Talents; Rivals in What? Pt.1**

* * *

**During Lunch**

* * *

Coraline was just leaning on the bulkhead, fuming to herself as her cheeks puffed up. In her hand, she held an open bottle of milk, usually for skeletons to fix and rejuvenate their skeletal bodies, to which DJ had once told her. Coraline set the can down as she angrily placed her hands on her hips and interrogated, "Just what is she to that skinny hussy? He was completely head over heels for her!"

"If you ask my opinion," Cheshire mumbled as he cleaned out his ear, and looked at his finger, "The boy better be careful around women. Especially strange ones like you, my dear."

It was then that he felt a chill go down his little spine as he slowly turned around. The black cat then paled at the frightening visage he saw now as his fur suddenly paled up. Coraline's eyes were comically glowing bright yellowish orange as both of her bawled up fists, with a wall of flame erupting behind her, overshadowing her and leaving only a silhouette.

The human girl then growled at the small black cat as she threateningly asked, "Who are you calling 'strange'?"

"Nothing," Cheshire quickly responded as he turned away, avoiding the blonde's icy stare as the girl finally calmed down a bit. He sighed in relief as the color returned back on his face, 'Note to self: never tick her off now that I can talk. It'll be the end of me and my nine lives.'

After the girl had calmed down, Coraline looked to her cat as she suggested, "I think we should keep an eye on this girl… just in case. If she's a girl at the school, we'll know about it."

"Why?" Cheshire asked, feeling a little worried about this idea, "I mean, she's probably harmless. And I think the last thing you'd want is to be labeled as a stalker."

"Who's a stalker?" Bobby suddenly asked, after appearing out of nowhere. The girl and cat nearly startled, the blob boy asked, "So who's stalking what now?"

"Oh, it's just this new girl, Bobby," Coraline asked, not wanting to get into it. "She's putting the moves on DJ, much to my distaste." she even sighed as she looked at seeing DJ's figure walking out of the cafeteria. Her anger then turned to sorrow as she sighed, "That and she stole a kiss from him too."

"Who stole a kiss from who now?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby," Coraline scolded, "Weren't you paying any attention at all?"

"Huh?" Bobby asked clueless until he chuckled, "Oh sorry, I was just looking at that zombie over there."

Coraline sighed, knowing now of the blob's only fault. Just then, she spotted the girl that snatched DJ away earlier, Lydia. The raven haired girl stopped for a moment, and saw Coraline as well, making eye contact with the girl at this moment. The two girls just locked into each other's eyes, a sudden spark of rivalry/competitive nature locked between the two. It was almost as if sparks of electricity were shooting out towards them. But as the two were sizing up to scratch one another's faces off, DJ was going over on what happened yesterday as he was walking out of the cafeteria.

'What happened? The whole day, I just spent time with that girl, Lydia,' DJ told himself, going on over in his head as he took notes during the class, 'I wasn't even in complete control of myself. It all happened right after she kissed me,' he grumbled to himself as he grimaced as he remembered what happened at Coraline's arrival. At first he thought she'd get PO'ed at him, but she seemed more likely to get into a catfight with that new girl, and then what he said to her before they left. He sighed as he told himself, 'I need to talk to Coraline later after Lunch.'

As both Coraline and Lydia looked at one another in competing rivalry of sorts, someone going unnoticed in the room looked at the blonde a little evilly as she thought, 'Just a little more….'

It was just then that the school bell rang signaling lunch was over with. DJ got up as he turned around… only to find both of the girls gone. He then gulped at this, "Oh, this is not good."

* * *

**Afterwards**

* * *

Classes were done with and it was nearly the end of the day. However, for one human girl and a fluffy and cute black cat, the day wasn't over yet. Coraline was leaning near the wall to where the stairway was at, while Cheshire waited in the backpack, though peeked a bit from inside as he muttered to himself, 'Something's not right about this Lydia,' he then scratched his fuzzy chin in deep thought on this one, 'She doesn't seem menacing… so why all this?'

"I can't believe this," Coraline fumed as she snapped open a soda can she had picked up and drank it, "That over-the-hills floozy. She thinks she can just use DJ like some sort of homework buddy/slave! I've got the right mind to clobber her on the head and to cut off her scalp in the process," she then finished her can of soda as she nearly crushed it with just one hand as she fumed out even more, "And then there's DJ! Geez, he's completely gone head over heels for her! What was all that talk about being there for me, or I'll never give up on you? He just talks smooth just for show! That jerk! Stupid-head! Dummy!"

The Black Cat looked at his blonde haired owner questionably, and then absentmindedly asked, "Um, Cory? From the way you're talking, it sounds like you've got a…"

"It is so imperative that you don't finish that sentence," Coraline warned him, giving her a look telling her to not go that far.

"So… the new girl's either a cat girl, or a witch, eh?" a voice called up from the stairway, causing the two to look upward. There, they saw Lydia sitting on the railing with her legs crossed and looking down at them with a smug smirk on her face, "Those are at least a few of the rumors, surrounding the new girl," and then she hopped off the railing, causing some of the students, who didn't hear what she said, to look in horror as she fell off the stairs.

Then in a surprising turn of events, she landed gracefully in a crouched position, the kind you'd see Spider-Man pull off. And then stood upright in front of the blonde haired girl, letting go of her shock. Some of the boys whispered out on that the girl was a petite beauty, next to Viper, whom was absent at this point. However, the two girls ignored the boys drooling over the new girl as Lydia smirked and placed a hand on her hip as she smirked at the two, "So… you want to know what I want. It's simple: I'm going to take DJ away from you, Coraline Jones," she then grinned seductively as she placed her index finger on her lip, "Of course… we could share him, if you're up to it."

Coraline, the now arriving Bobby, and even Cheshire misunderstanding what she had just said to them. Coraline paled at this as she thought, 'Oh, she's that king of girl!'

Bobby, being the dumb one, was the only one to think out loud as he dumbfound but casually asked, "You mean 'you… DJ… and Coraline… together? I didn't think you into that kind of relationship and all, but…"

Lydia had a look of shock and embarrassment on her face, realizing she had misled what she was trying to make her point. So she shouted, "NO THAT'S NOT IT! LISTEN UP; I LOVE BOYS AND ONLY BOYS!" She had calmed down now and was blushing at the thought of boys, "After all, a Spider-Girl's gotta try her luck in the pick of the litter, doesht she?"

"A spider-girl?" Coraline asked aloud. The two just looked at her deeply confused until she asked, "Then what to you want DJ for?"

Lydia struck a seductive pose and explained, "It's a simple yet master plan of mine, ever since I came here. I intend to turn the entire school campus into my personal harem… and to turn all the boys into my love slaves," this slight bit of information caused the two, as well as anyone else to overhear this plan, to pale in shock, as she continued, "It would have been a flawless plan… if the guys didn't go for that skank, Viper M. Edusa."

"Yeah, she can be a pain alright," Coraline pointed out, "At least that's one thing we can agree on."

Lydia then smirked as she pointed out, "And that's where DJ comes in. A good-looking girl, hanging around a semi-cute fellow, not to mention him being the son of the Pumpkin King, like that will only advertise one thing and one thing only: Boys desire what they can't have," she then placed her hands behind her head as she shrugged, "When they see me with him, all the boys will drop whatever skank they're hanging out and come flocking… to me… right after I dump DJ's butt like a sack of potatoes."

The two kids had listened to the whole thing, and realized that this girl was a major player. And what was worse, she was going to drag JD down with her. Coraline, seething with anger on her part, heard enough and couldn't stomach this, "Pervert, you're sick! You can't do that to DJ, even if you tried to sweet talk it! He doesn't have anything to do with this! Any bit of it!"

"Yeah!" Bobby shouted, but then asked, "What're we talkin' about?"

Lydia shot back, "So what? I don't care about what happens to him, as long as I'm the one who's happy here!"

It was then that between the two girls, a fiery aura was around them, emphasizing the jealousy and anger that was directed towards one another. Even other students saw this as one guy gulped, "Those two are going at each other with a huge unhealthy dose of jealousy."

"I think it's more of a rivalry than jealousy," Cheshire muttered to himself in the backpack, but then gulped a little, "Though I doubt this storm could get any bigger."

"There you are, Coraline," DJ called out as he ran over to the girls, getting their attention, especially Lydia, "I was looking all over for you. You just took off after lunch."

Another guy who watched this fight, gulped at this turn of events, "This'll be hell; a real downpour of blood over on this end."

"DJ…", Coraline smiled, a little relieved to see her first friend ever.

DJ, looking a little ashamed about what had happened, nervously tried to apologized, "Um, look, Cor… about what happened with me and Lydia…"

It was then that only Lydia heard it; a hissing sound from behind her as she knew what that was and paled for only a moment. Suddenly, Lydia ran over to DJ and embraced him in a hug, as she cheered, "DJ, my hero!" she then snuggled up as she rubbed her cheek up to his, "Oh, I missed you so much!"

Not really in the mood for it, DJ lightly pulled her away as he started out, "Sorry, Lydia, but I really need to talk to Cor," however, Lydia wasn't about to give up yet, as she shot up to him, and gave him a kiss on the lips again, further making Coraline agitated.

But Bobby just went wide eyed as he stupidly asked, "DJ's got a girlfriend?"

Suddenly, as Lydia pulled away, DJ felt that strange control over him, 'Oh no, not again,' and his eye suddenly glazed over in a trance. It was then that he smirked at Lydia and then spoke out in a deadpan voice, and pulled a smirking Lydia back into his arms, "I'm sorry… I guess there wasn't anything to talk about…"

Coraline couldn't believe this as she shook her head and pointed out, "DJ, don't! Get away from her."

"She's right," Bobby defended, "She's got cooties!"

"Eh, why?" DJ asked as Lydia rested her head on his chest, hiding her conniving smirk from Coraline and Bobby, but not from Cheshire.

"Why?" Coraline asked, not believing that this was happening, "It's because she's dangerous! She's just using you!"

"There's no such thing," DJ answered, still in his daze. "You're just a scaredy cat, that's all."

Then Lydia turned towards Coraline as she pointed out, "You know, I just noticed a while ago… you smell a bit like a human," this caused Coraline to flinch at that part, remembering her little secret, as Lydia continued, "I'm starting to wonder if you're just hanging around DJ just because he might protect you all because of that scent. I mean, most monsters go after anything with a human's scent."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Coraline shouted, as she started to become even more worried about what this girl was saying, "I'm not using them or anything, I just…"

"She's right, you know," DJ spoke out, shouting in his head to stop, 'STOP, DON'T SAY IT!' Lydia turned away and she saw someone in the shaodws; that same hissing sound as that figure smirked, making a V-sign for her upcoming victory, as DJ spoke out hypnotized still, "Maybe that's the reason why you befriended me," Coraline looked shocked by this, with a hint of fear and sadness on her face, as Cheshire and Bobby just looked shocked by this, as the hypnotized skeleton boy finished, "I guess I'm just a bodyguard for you just so you can get on by without a scratch, all because you're too weak to defend yourself."

This earned a huge rumoring crowd from the students present in the hallway. However, the blonde human didn't care about that as she nearly staggered behind, letting what her undead friend had just said to her sink in. "You're… you're wrong, DJ… " Coraline weakly said, as two tears suddenly ran down her cheeks. And then finally, she grabbed her backpack and ran out of there, crying quietly and softly.

"Ah! Caroline, wait!" Bobby called up, but looked at DJ as she shot him a look, "You should be ashamed of what you just said! And I don't even know why that is!" and then high-tailed it right after the blonde as Cheshire ran after them.

Lydia, on the other hand, didn't look too proud on what had just happened. However, in the shadows, the figure just smirked at this little victory. They saw Lydia was still in DJ's arms as the mysterious figure snickered at this whole scene of events. The stranger lightly chuckled at this, seeing the look and the tears go down her former competition's face, 'Coraline Jones… you've been smashed!'

* * *

**Later On  
Outside**

* * *

Coraline was sitting under a shaded, yet spooky, tree, with her knees pulled up to her, and resting her head on them. Cheshire was sitting right beside her, patting the girl by the leg, considering it was the only part aside from the shoulder. She had taken what DJ told her pretty hard; in fact, she couldn't get any more depressed by it any further. It was pretty much at that point; she started to wonder why she had become friends in the first place… friends with anyone at all, if she was the one using them completely.

It was just then Bobby slunked up and found them both, and looked distraught by his friend like this. He knelt down and placed a gooey hand on her shoulder, looking saddened at seeing her like this.

"You alright there?" Bobby asked, getting only Coraline shaking her head in a negative, "Well, I know I'm not the smartest one here. Heck, I don't even remember what the lesson was today…"

"We didn't have a lesson today," Coraline mumbled, not moving away from her spot.

"All I'm saying is that I'm sure he didn't mean to say that," Bobby answered, ignoring the blonde's response, "I know DJ better than anyone… at least as much as I can remember. He would nearly risk his own life to pull his friends out of any tight situation."

"Well, yeah but," Coraline started as she lifted her head up, showing her tear-filled eyes, "Now that I think about it… I mean, what kind of friend am I if he does all the saving?"

"Will you both snap out of it already?" Cheshire snapped at the two, getting their attention, "This is hardly the time to get depressed!"

"Hey, furball!" Bobby started, trying to comfort his new friend and scold the other, "DJ's acting like a real jerk, Caroline's in tears, and now you're…"

"First of which… is pronounced Coraline," the black cat corrected, "And second: the only reason DJ's acting like a jerk is because of that submission toxin running in his system. And that, was done onto him by that spider-girl," the two teens didn't know what the black cat was talking about, giving him a clueless look on their faces. Cheshire just groaned as he scurried over to the backpack, and explained, "Here! Allow me to explain to those who don't know… and those who just don't have a brain."

"The Spider Girl, are part of the Spider People; a race of demons who take the form of humans who've died in order to hide themselves. Once confronted or cornered, they allow their true nature to show, and they are skillful fighters, as well as expert trappers."

"Powerful masters of stealth and trapping expertise, they are able to utilize their webbing into different forms or ways in order to ensnare their targets, or kill them with very powerful results. As for their sustenance, like spiders, they cocoon their victims and inject a special digestive enzyme that liquefies the victim's organs, or they just suck their blood and vital fluids like any normal spider would. Though this is not always their main sustenance; they have proven to actually go on a strict diet of fruits or vegetables. Though this is not their normal food source, this allows them to go on for a century without hunting," Cheshire explained with the knowledge and performance of a college instructor.

Coraline sighed, "Well, that's good news," but then looked to Cheshire, "But how she doing that mind control thing on DJ?"

"DJ's being mind controlled?" Bobby asked, "But he doesn't have a brain in his head. It's all hollow."

"Not quite like you, my gelatinous friend," Cheshire quirked quietly as he continued, "Their mouths possess two fangs that create different types of toxins for any useful situation, whilst their body odor causes blood vessels to dilate and causes a large amount of perspiration. If any creature is confronted by a Spider Person, unless they have a very strong mind or will, they would instantly be under their spell and ensnarement. Though their main way to snare a target is with their eyes at first contact; a sort of animal hypnosis that's rarely used. This technique is a hypnotic power called 'Allure', found by most of the Succubi race to use, but rarely used by the Spider People. It puts the victim in a half-dead state, leaving the victim in control of the Spider Girl."

"So DJ wasn't being a jerk at all," Bobby smirked at this, nudging a relieved Coraline, "He's just under mind control."

"Yeah, don't celebrate just yet," Cheshire stated as he hopped on to Coraline's knees, pointing out something crucial, "It gets worse: Once the victim and the Spider Monster are in an isolated area, the Spider will give the victim the 'Kiss of the Black Widow', rendering the victim to be subservient. The Slave will be under their complete control.. forever. Or until the victim/slave is sucked dry."

Then Coraline paled at that as her eyes went wide with horror, "No… she… she can't. I won't let her do this!"

"Then we'd better start finding them both," the black cat shouted as he got off of his master's knees as the two got up, "Before that dope becomes the Spider's soup de jure!"

* * *

**Next Chapter: Coraline's Hidden Talents; Rivals in What?**


	5. Rivals in What? pt2

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Coraline's Hidden Talents; Rivals in What? pt.2**

* * *

**School Hospital Room**

* * *

In the infirmary, DJ sat on the bed, trying to confirm on what had happened. Back then, he had said such hurtful things to Coraline; things that he wouldn't normally say to anyone at all. And yet through some way, he did. But as he contemplated on what he would do next, Lydia was in the hallway, talking to someone else. However, at a usual look, one would think she would be happy at a small victory, but on her face, it was more of scorn and hate on it.

"Alright," she started as she scolded to someone hidden in the shadows. "I did what you asked… though I didn't like it."

"You still haven't won the stud yet," the person hissed as they frowned with their eyes sharpening. "You know the deal: Get DJ Skellington on our side into Creeperin… or you can kiss your friend goodbye."

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

* * *

The spider girl looked distraught at that threat as she got paler than normal from that. But she wasn't the only one that was distraught at this moment, as was DJ while he sat on the chair, thinking about what had happened.

It was just then, when DJ finally regained control of himself and saw Lydia as she walked back into the room. He groaned a little, "Ugh. Wha… what happened?" As he shook his head a little, he remembered what he had said back at the school, and paled, "I can't believe I said that stuff to her," he then looked resolved to himself as he thought, 'No matter what or how I thought about it, I said too much.'

Lydia smirked went on, only until she saw DJ looking serious, "DJ? What's wrong? You look sad," she purred as she put her hands on his shoulders and made him look up at her. "I know just the way to make you feel better."

"I'm sorry, Lydia," giving her an apologetic look as he turned around to leave, "But I have to go and apologize to Coraline," and was on his way to leave the room and to find his friend.

Lydia paled at that, and ran up to him, "Wait!" and stopped him in his tracks as she embraced him tightly. This little scene caused DJ to blush a little, still awkward on having a girl press up to him like that… ever. Lydia, gaining the upper hand at this game of cat-and-mouse, smiled warmly as she nuzzled her head on his chest, "You must be feeling rather depressed, DJ darling," DJ was slowly being pushed back on the bed. "Just forget all about Coraline," Lydia spoke softly. "I'll make you feel really good."

She then broke the hug a little, as they were close to the glass casing. Close enough for DJ to lean on it, as Lydia cupped his face, causing him to blush even more, "Uh, Lydia? What are you doing?"

"Shhhh, don't move, DJ," Lydia said, with a small violet blush flaring on her cheeks, "I'm… really nervous about this too," she then flared up her Allure bite fangs at him as she took a peck at his neck, causing him to go into another hypnotic trance as she got on her tip toes, "You'll be the first boy I've ever tried this ability on," and then leaned in towards his face as she seductively whispered, "And… a girl… never forgets her first. So please… don't run."

'It's no good,' DJ thought, trying to resist the urge to kiss her, but to no avail, 'I can't move,' she leaned in, getting closer to touching and tasting his lips.

Then suddenly, DJ snapped out of it and nearly scared Lydia as he broke her hold. And then suddenly, he clutched to her tightly, in an embracing hold; with his arms around her, and her hands on his shoulders. Lydia gasped at this sudden burst of strength and surprising move. She giggled nervously for a moment, as she smirked, "Hey! Not like that… not so tightly!" but she smirked, thinking it to be her powers working on him, "I'm a girl; be gentle with me, okay?"

"I'm sorry," DJ said, earning a surprised and shocked look on Lydia's face as he looked solemn on this. He then looked down, resting his head to hers as he started out, "I can't do this. I just can't, not when I hurt Coraline like that."

Lydia, after hearing him regain control again, looked distressed seeing her plan fall apart, 'H-H-How can he have broken the spell? One more 'Allure Bite' should do it,' and tried to push him off his grip, desperate to gain him back in her control. However, she couldn't push him away as she tried not to hurt him, 'Wha…? How… how can he be this strong?'

"I said such horrible things to her," DJ stated, feeling guilty as he finished, "How can I be much of a friend to her, if I'm not with her or by her side when she needs it?" He then sighed sadly, "I'm a terrible friend."

Lydia's eyes went wide as saucers with shock at this, 'No way! I hit him with a full Allure, and hit him with the full press…' She then lowered her head in shame… and anger as she whispered, "Is that girl really so great to you?" DJ looked confused as she slowly started to shake with anger, "Do you want her so much? So much more than me?"

DJ cocked a non-existent eyebrow at her, "Eh, wha?"

"I put all that work into seducing you," Lydia growled, obviously getting ticked off on a high level. "Some of it was embarrassing too! And you just turn me down?!"

Now something was up. DJ had an instinctual perception of danger and Lydia was starting to radiate danger in waves. Deciding to try and get out of a bad situation, DJ attempted to calm her down, "Hey, now just calm down."

"Hey, hang on a sec!" DJ gulped as he backed away from the angry red and black goth girl. She was reminding him too much of his sister, Gwen, when she got ticked off.

To DJ's shock, Lydia sprouted four long fifteen-foot spider legs, striped black and purple from her back. While a pair of fangs dripping with venom grew from her mouth. Her black nails had even lengthened and looked like they could cut up a lot of things. Namely DJ himself!

But then he paled as he saw Lydia hunch over, hugging herself in pain as she growled out, "I did all those things to get you in control! I even humiliated myself by acting so weak around you just to get you!" she then looked at Justin straight in the eye, and Justin could tell she was pretty PO'ed, "ENOUGH! I'm really angry now! I'M REALLY MAD NOW!" Lydia then jumped off the ground, and her spider legs took movement, as they stood up and allowed her afloat in the air. She looked at DJ, who was yelling in his head 'What the Heck' all the time. She then flexed her fingers as the nails grew only a little longer into short sharp nail points and shouted out, "Well, if I can't have you…" and then her large spider legs made her dart forward; she charged right at him at full speed, with her nails right forward, "… THEN I'LL MAKE SURE SHE CAN'T HAVE YOU AT ALL!"

"I really should stop being surprised by things like this," DJ gulped.

"Come here!" Lydia growled as she lunged at DJ.

"DJ!!!!!!!!!!!" Coraline shouted, surprising the two in the room, as she busted in… and delivered a powerful flying kick right at Lydia's ribs, causing her to get thrown out of the room with a sizeable force. Lydia crashed through the window, letting out a surprised and panicked scream as she disappeared into the blackened trees. Coraline stopped as she huffed all the air out of her lungs with each breath.

She went bug eyed for a moment, as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "Oops. I didn't mean to kick her that hard." she took a moment to calm her thoughts and turned to where DJ was, and smiled, "Whew. I'm glad I made it in time."

"Cor," DJ sighed in relief as well as he got off the bed. "I'm glad you're here," but then suddenly, he was glomped on by a frantic Coraline, who with Bobby and Cheshire, ran to catch up to her, who heard Lydia screaming in anger. Surprised by being hugged by Coraline, he asked, "Um, Cor?"

Breaking the hug, Coraline looked to DJ as she shook her head, "Before anything else, you don't have to apologize. I knew it was Lydia's Allure move that made you say that stuff," getting a clueless look in DJ's face, Coraline spilled the beans, "She's a spider-girl, a monster that takes on the form of a pretty girl to lure men."

"She basically lured you in by injecting Spider venom into your marrow, boy," Cheshire stated as he hopped on the bed. "That was enough to ensnare you into her web."

Having a clueless look on his face, DJ blinked until it finally sinked in as he nodded, "Oh," but then he became relieved as he smiled to her, "So, then all that stuff I said to you… it wasn't really me." and then he had another clueless look as he looked to the black cat sitting on the bed, and pointed, cocking an eyebrow to the young blonde, "He can talk…"

"Yeah, I know," Coraline said to him, smiling at him… which to her was both sort of stranger, and comforting at the same time right now.

Bobby slithered on in, looking at the two confused, as he asked, "What are we looking at again?"

Suddenly, they heard Lydia, laughing across the distance, interrupting their moment and Bobby's confusion. A shot of web line fired directly at DJ, ensnaring him in a lasso of web. And immediately, it yanked him right out through the window. "DJ!!!!!" Coraline screamed out as she ran out, and grabbed him by the waist, pulling her along for the speed trip.

Bobby, seeing his friends in mortal danger, announced as he swelled up his chest to make it look like he had massive pecks, shot to the sky, "Don't worry guys! I'm on my way!" However, the school bell rang, catching his attention, as he returned to his goofy self and headed out the door. "ALRIGHT, LUNCH!"

* * *

**Outside**

* * *

Both DJ and Coraline were being tugged through the trees and high above the ground. The two were swatted by the thick and leafless tree branches, snapping when they collided with the harsh limbs. The web continued to pull them, until it suddenly went limp, causing the two to fall down towards the ground. Coraline screamed out in fear, terror gripping her as the unforeseen drop to the ground would surely kill her. However, that didn't come to pass, as they landed on something soft, spongy… and sticky.

As Coraline righted herself up on her knees and hands, and while DJ was pulling his head free of the sticking floor, the two finally got a good look at their surrounding. They were suspended fourteen feet from the ground, amongst a cluster of trees grown together, with webs covering them, making a sort of trampoline coliseum.

Coraline nearly freaked out as she stood up, looking around, "DJ! It's a giant web!"

"Yeah, I see," DJ replied as he stuck his head back on, after pulling off the webs in his hair. "But where's…"

Suddenly, from out of the trees, Lydia popped out, out of her finger tips, she shot webs out from the higher trees. They stuck as she grabbed on to them, her spider legs arching out, holding her in place. She was currently in a pose, similar to what Spider-Man would be in if holding on to webs from both arms, and pulling them down.

As she finally balanced herself out, she glared daggers at the two, especially Coraline, as Lydia shot forward. "That kick you gave me hurt, you bubblegum brained blonde!"

"Hey!" Coraline shot out shaking her fist at her. "Not all blonde's are bubblegum brained!"

Lydia just snarled at her, "Enough talk! It's time to fight!" and rushed after her in the air, as she past DJ. But then, her right hand reached behind her as she shot out another web; the web rope wrapped around DJ's neck, taking him along for the web slinging rollercoaster ride as the human teen watched in horror. Then, with a spin in the air, she threw DJ straight into the second floor of the web dome, straight through the tree post.

DJ pulled himself out, trying to right himself as he spat out splinters and pulled out a branch from his empty eye socket. DJ gulped at the power that the spider-girl, Lydia, had in her. Even Coraline got a good look at it as well, and looked to him as she gulped and advised in a tone of worried panic. "Um, DJ? Now's a good time to start Flaming On."

"I think you're right," DJ stated as he stood up, and stood up in a DBZ stance, as he was attempting to summon his Ghost Riding firepower. He groaned and grunted, shaking with fury and concentration; in truth, he looked like he was constipated at this moment. But then he went bug-eyed, and blushed form embarrassment, as he turned to his blonde female friend, and nervously replied, "Uh, Coraline… I don't think I can."

"What?!" she asked, slightly freaked out now.

"ARGH!" Lydia screamed out loud as she looked at the two teens and boogey monster from down below her, "All my rage - wasted on nothing!" she snarled as she dived right for them, "Weaklings! But that's fine, I'll just kill you both together!" and then she cackled like an angry girl would when the pressure breaks the valve.

DJ nearly paled as he saw the speedy-flying succubus head straight towards him with her claws. "Look out, DJ!" Coraline shouted as she ran into him, pushing them both out of the way. Lydia swung over them as she sped off to the other side of the web stadium, and turned around to survey her targets… with a little blood on her right clawed fingernails.

"Ugh, Cor… you alright?" DJ groaned as he got up, with Coraline still on top of him. It was then that he heard a small whimpering groan escape from her as he saw her get up off of him, wincing from some pain. It was then that he drew his hand back, and saw blood on it. He paled at this as he saw Coraline's back; the back of her shirt sliced up and five claw marks on it, bleeding.

He paled as he got on his boney knees and looked at her with much concern, "Courtney! Oh go… we've gotta patch those up!"

"DJ…" Coraline asked, hiding her pain with a smile, "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

He shook his head as he was nearly on the verge of tears for her, "No, she didn't. But she…"

"That's good… ugh!" she winced a little, as DJ placed his hands on her small shoulders as she started, "Last time, you really took a number in saving me," she then smiled a little at him as she stated, "Seeing that we're friends, I should take one for the team as well."

"Cor…" DJ said, a little touched from what she said. At this point, he wished there was something he could do until Bobby got back in the game. He knew that Coraline was a normal human in his world, and Bobby was an indestructible gelatinous mass, but what he was he? A normal skeleton with abnormal Hellfire powers… powers in which he still didn't know how to use. 'This sucks' he thought as he nearly grit his teeth, 'I just wish I could help more…'

"Coraline Jones!" Lydia shouted as she swung-dived right at the two, "The rumors of Skellington Jr. being a Ghost Rider was all talk, eh?" as she dived at them both, her spider legs suddenly sharpened and transformed into thin spears attached to her back, "It's just as well. You two can die as well; die in each other's arms!"

"NO!" Coraline shouted, and then brought DJ close to her as she held him, squeezing tightly to him as she tearfully shouted, "Spare my friend, and kill me instead!" she then looked defiantly at Lydia as she shouted, "I'm the one you want!"

After hearing that, Lydia sneered at that self-sacrifice moment, "You're still trying to protect your shield, are you?"

"You're wrong!" Coraline shouted, getting Lydia's and DJ's attention. The spider girl stopped in mid-air, her spider legs still in their transformed state, as they were used to prong onto the tree branches, keeping her in place as she listened to what Coraline was gonna say out loud, wincing from her still-bleeding back, "DJ isn't a shield; he's been there for me, helping me! He's my first friend and that's something precious to somebody like me!" her hug on DJ tightened, fearing that she might lose him as she continued, "He protected me; now I want to protect him and my other friends that I've made! I don't want to lose them, especially DJ!"

'Coraline…' DJ thought as he looked at her with a skeleton grin.

"Your friend?" Lydia spat out, her anger returning to her as she charged right back at the two, "DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH! Guys exist to become food to us Spider People! They're meant to submit to you!"

As she got near for the killing blow, DJ knew that they were gonna get sliced up like butter. He looked at Coraline, and then screamed in his head loud enough, 'C'mon, FLAME OOOOOOOOOON!'

Then DJ's body suddenly lit aflame, the flames shined like the sun, nearly blinding everyone in the area as the light died down.

Lydia stopped in her swing attack, thanks to some last minute webbing she stood on as a tight rope, and Coraline looked at him in amazement at DJ as he knelt next to her. He stood up again, once again, transformed into the creature called the Ghost Rider.

The girls looked at him, completely stunned by what had happened to him. Coraline looked up at him, as she was still on her knees, with Cheshire who had arrived and plopped in her lap, as she asked in a worried tone, "DJ… ?" the Flaming skull looked at her with its empty eye socket, and winked with reassurance. After seeing such a goofy move, she sighed in relief, "'Bout time."

Coraline nearly shivered, as did Lydia, as the Spider Girl thought aloud in fear. "That aura… the Ghost Rider; the fabled Bounty Hunter of the Devil himself…"

Just then, DJ, or the creature standing there, brought up his right hand, and flexed his fingers. He then looked at Lydia as he smirked, exposing his jagged sharp teeth. He then looked at her, almost examining her deeply, giving shivers of fear down Lydia's spine.

He stared at her vigilantly, until finally, he pointed his right index finger at her, nearly making her jump up in fright as she let out a tiny squeaky scream. "You…" he started, startling Coraline as well as she gulped. "… Innocent."

"Huh?" the two girls asked in unison, both having their shoulders slump from all the tension they were put through.

"It's the Penance Stare," Cheshire answered as he jumped onto Coraline's shoulders. "It's basically the Rider's most powerful weapon. Ghost Riders, within each generation, possess the supernatural ability to cause any individual who stare into his/her eyes to see and feel every bit of pain they have ever inflicted on anyone in their entire lifetime. It also allows one to peer into their soul of any evil as well, dictating if they are indeed innocent or guilty."

"Wait a minute," Coraline asked as she pointed to the spider girl, "If she's not the guilty one… then why all this?"

"Why don't we ask our surprise host," DJ hissed as he pointed at the trees.

Suddenly, slithering from out of the trees, a massive red cobra, as big as a subway, with sharp spikes coming out of the sides of its hood, came out as it hissed at the three teens. And surprisingly, on top of its head, it was the snake haired girl, Viper as she chuckled like a stuck-up class rep would. "Nahahahaha! Yes, it is I, Viper M. Edusa," she monologued as she stood up on top of the snake's head. "The whole plan was to get DJ here to join Creeperin, and have the most powerful monster in our little group. With him in our house, we could practically have the whole school in the palm of our hands."

"That's nonsense. DJ's already joined Monstars," Coraline protested.

Viper gritted her teeth as she sneered, "Yeah, I figured as much." But then she brightened up as she explained, "However, if a student chooses, they can switch houses, provided before the end of this coming Halloween."

"So you tricked Deedsly over here to brainwash me into joining your house," DJ finished. "Was that all?"

Viper innocently looked away as she faked pondering, "Well… tricked is such an honest way," she then snapped her fingers, "Threatening her friend, however, now that's my style."

A lump popped out from the serpent's throat, and something stuck out of its mouth as it opened up. Sticking out, coiled up in its tongue, a teenaged girl tried her best to wriggle free. Like Coraline, Lydia, and Viper, she was also very attractive; slim but not fully developed yet, with slightly pale skin. She had short boyish red hair with black streaks on the tips, with her hair bangs going right to the right, and a small braided ponytail on the right as well, and had blue eyes. She was dressed in a red hooded sweatshirt with a pouch pocket in front, black fingerless gloves to show her red fingernail paint. She also wore a black mini shirt that ended at her knees, and wore black and red striped stocking socks that stretched up beneath her skirt, with red and white sneakers. And to top off her ensemble, she had a brown shoulder bag that was over her left shoulder, and had the bag hanging over her right hip.

The girl struggled as she shouted, "Let me go! Let me go right now!"

"Wendy!" Lydia shouted, cupping her face as she shouted out to the girl, her face all for worry. "Okay, this is enough," she pleaded to Viper. "You said that if I did all this, you'd let my friend go!"

"Yeah… I did," Viper smirked as she snapped her fingers, "Didn't I?"

Then suddenly, the tongue started to pull back in the mouth… with Wendy along with it. Wendy screamed aloud as she was being pulled into the snake's mouth again. "WENDY!" Lydia shouted out in fear, as she saw her best friend being pulled into the beast.

Then suddenly, in a flash, DJ leapt right at the girl being drawn in. he grabbed onto Wendy as they were now both pulled into the snake's mouth. The beast gulped them both, as a lump traveled down from its throat down and disappeared. Coraline, after seeing such a things, shrieked out in panic, "DJ!!!"

It was then that they heard Viper laughing again, which brought the two girls' attention to wherever that slithering slimy reptile girl was. Coraline and Lydia looked around; trying to at least see anyone in the trees and webbing, but it was thicker than pea soup. From what both girls knew or didn't know, Gorgons were masters in disappearing. Like chameleons, they could make themselves invisible and silent; and like chameleons, they could strike at you in the dark, without so much as a warning.

Lydia, being the only one in fear here, shivered as she paled, 'If she's using the shadows to hide… it's a pretty good camouflage she has!'

The two spent most of their time, ignoring the snake that still had both Wendy and DJ were in, looking around, seeing nothing but patches of webbing and dark twisting branches circling around the area, as the two tried desperately to find anyone.

However, right behind the blonde, Viper was slowly making her way out of the fog. Her hair, now moving and growing as they hissed alive. They were slowly arching back behind her, as their snake eyes glared right at the blonde, equaling Viper's glare at her. They were all at the ready like scorpion tails, waiting to strike at Coraline once and for all.

She smirked at her victory to be, "This is one for dissing me… CORALINE JONES!" and then lashed them right at her at high speed.

Cheshire, who was still perched on Coraline's shoulder, saw the snake hair go straight at her, "Coraline! Watch out behind you!" he shouted frantically as his tail shot up and his fur stood on end.

Coraline sharply turned behind her, and saw the snake heads heading right towards for her. And in a surprising turn of events… she whipped around to deliver a powerful round house kick to the snakes. They were immediately swatted away, striking the web being stuck, wriggling to get free but to no avail.

Both Viper and Lydia looked at the blonde, almost stunned by this turn of events. Coraline huffed from such a strenuous move as she looked to Lydia and commented, "Getting attacked is so annoying."

Viper hissed as her hair grew back into snakes as she pounced at her, "Why you little…!" Coraline dodged out of the way as Viper struck the web. She was on her knee as she turned to see where that blonde was. She saw her, coming at her with flips, and when she stopped, she stopped at her feet. The two stood straight up in a flash, until Coraline delivered a powerful combo attack at the snake girl, delivering devastating punches to her face.

The snakes had all pulled free, as they charged in a slither towards the one that was attacking their master. After Coraline had delivered a powerful upper cut to Viper's jaw, sending her flying back into a tree, she focused her attention on the snakes going after her. One snake shot right at her, but she stopped it with one smack with a back handed fist, knocking it to the ground. Two other snakes slithered at high speed at her from both sides. However, as they launched at her, she jumped high in the air, time stopped as a 360 turn showed the whole scene. But for Coraline, time went back as she kicked the two straight in the face.

She landed on the webs, as she sighed in relief, and cracked her neck. She stopped as she looked at Lydia; the spider girl was in amazement, which sort of made Cor a bit unnerved. She chuckled as she gulped, "Okay. Well, um… let's try and get DJ and your friend outta…"

Suddenly, the giant cobra groaned, catching the girls' attention as they saw it. The beast's face churned and twisted into a not so well look. As it groaned, they saw that something was about to burst out of its neck. The flesh began to sizzle and bubble, as if something was cooking inside its neck. Until finally, the head blew off in a flaming burst, with DJ jumping out with Wendy in his left arm, and in his right, his Flying V guitar, which had changed into a chrome coated double bladed broad axe guitar, shouting out, "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The two landed softly on the webs, as Lydia scurried over to him as she took the unconscious Wendy in a hug. Lydia just looked at both DJ as he put his axe guitar away, and Coraline as she ran over to them.

She looked at the two, slightly stunned that she was being protected by the people that she tried to hurt nonetheless. What Courtney said about being friends, her protecting him, was just too much for her heart to take. Finally, in a mixture of sadness and happiness, Lydia started to cry at that moment, wiping away at her tears as she held her still unconscious friend.

The teens just stood there, taking a sigh of relief at this bizarre day for them.

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Walking Back to the Dorms**

* * *

"That was awesome," DJ commented as he, Coraline, and Bobby whom was eating a full ham, were walking back after a day of school was over. She had slightly mentioned that she had fought Viper's snakes off with amazing kung fu skills. "I didn't know you could do that stuff," DJ stated, the smile never disappearing from his face.

"Six self-defense classes all recommended by my mom; each one with a black belt at the end," Coraline stated as she shrugged, "We lived in a lot of tough areas."

"What's self defense again?" Bobby asked nonchalantly.

He then looked to Coraline, who seemed kind of quiet at this point, and asked, "Say, uh… Cor?"

"Huh? Yeah?" she asked, snapping out of her daydream for the moment.

"Well, if… if I do become a little more like that Ghost Rider persona from yesterday," he scratched the back of his neck nervously as he asked, "Will… will we still be friends?"

After hearing that question, and in fearing the wrong answer as well as forgetting the debonair way he acted last night, she jumped right at him, slightly blushing as she answered, "Of course, DJ! To me, you'll always be my first precious friend, no matter which one you are!" and then she mumbled out, looking away," but then she smiled back to him, "That's why… I don't mind now that we're all friends."

"And I'll see you guys after lunch… tomorrow," Bobby replied dramatically. Which pretty much ruined their moment.

And then someone made their way towards them, with a basket of sorts and a smile on their faces. It was none other than Lydia, in her human state, as she ran over to the table, excited, "Hi everyone!"

"L-Lydia?" everyone shouted in question and shock at the return of the teen spider girl.

Coraline sat up as she asked, "Wh-what are you doing here?"

Lydia shrugged as she stuck out her tongue playfully, "Well, you guys did help me save Wendy last night, remember? Afterwards, I figured we'd start out again… as friends. And friends usually hang out with each other."

She smirked innocently, but then she stopped as she looked at DJ, and then blushed a little as she smiled cheerfully, "Hello, DJ," and then walked over to him as she presented him with the basket, "I baked some cookies for you," and then pulled up upward, causing Coraline and Bobby, only at the mention of cookies, to shoot up as well as she snuggled on his arm, "If you want, we could eat them together."

DJ, who sweatdropped at this, nervously asked, "Um, that's great, but uh… why just me?"

Lydia blushed a little as she closed her eyes, looked away, and playfully smiled, "Oh yeah, that's right you don't know. A spider girl's mission is also to find themselves a powerful monster to father their offspring, you tease. A 'Mate of Fate', so to speak." The two looked at her in confusion, until she then looked at DJ, longingly, as she answered, "Well, I discovered last night… it was you!"

Everyone was quiet for a minute, even DJ and Coraline were, until they finally shouted out, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAA?"

Lydia nodded as she rubbed her cheek on DJ's arm as she confessed, "Last night I needed to find someone monster enough to be my mate. When I saw you like that last night, DJ, I knew it was you." She then squealed as she nearly screamed out, "That gentle nature, those good looks, that pungent scent… and all that demonic aggression in one handsome package! I'm in love with you!"

Coraline growled at that and took DJ's free arm as she pulled him away, "You've barely known him for a few days! You can't just fall in love with him on the spot!"

"Yes I can!" Lydia shot out as she pulled him back, and then got a sly smile on her face, "Unless… _you've_ fallen for him. Have you?"

Coraline nearly went bug eyed at that comment, and blushed at this, nearly breaking into a cold sweat. She shook her head as she pulled DJ away from her, "NO! No, I haven't! I'm not even interested in super-skinny guys like him; just stop looking at him like he was a slab of meat!"

And then went on a furious tug-of-war with DJ as the rope. They kept pulling at him so comically, just as Bobby pouted, "Hey. I wanna play Tug O' War too, you guys."

Cheshire just shrugged at that as he hopped on over to the teens that were using DJ as a rope, "Oh well, sucks to be him."

* * *

**Next Chapter: Love is a Witch; Calling all Creeps**


	6. Love is a Witch

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Love is a Witch; Calling all Creeps**

* * *

**Early that Morning**

* * *

**Academy Library**

* * *

The island was massive but small in some cases; the library looked almost European with a little Big Ben monument in the center and was somewhat connected with it to an abandoned Cable Car station on top. On each point, tower, and doorway, it was riddled with statues of gargoyles, griffins, and demons for the décor. vast and huge room lined up with stairways that led to different levels of floors. Each one having a huge collection of shelves loaded with countless books. Books shelves were bolted together to form bridges; the lower levels going down like a darkened bottomless pit. The whole building was lit up with eerie torches, and chandeliers. From the looks of it, the place was very ancient but modern in some cases.

The halls, walls, and shelves in the library were filled with books and books that went on for what felt like miles. Swamps, cascades, gardens of books; it would be a librarians' paradise. This was what Coraline and DJ had both felt when they had been in once they entered the building for his first day as customers/students. Almost immediately at this time, she was sitting on one of the high stepping ladders, looking through the History section.

She was flipping through the covers, carefully scanning the titles as she whispered them ot herself, "Gory Stories, Get Dead Soon, The Ghouls' Guide to getting that Lucky Boil's Heart… Lizzie's Graveyard Gardeners… Green Meteors from Outer Space…"

"Anything, Cor?" DJ asked from below, holding the ladder from falling.

"Nothing," Coraline answered, sighing as Cheshire was sitting atop the bookcase. "I've been looking all over the titles, and they don't have anything on Ghost Riders."

"There's gotta be something," DJ insisted. "If I'm ever gonna master this thing, I need to know all that I can."

That was their little mission for the day before they went to meet Bobby for lunch. They didn't understand why DJ couldn't transform when they were in danger. Not even DJ knew much about it either; even he didn't know the full extent of his powers. If they were ever gonna be prepared for the worst, they had to learn more about this Ghost Rider, in which Coraline had remembered Viper and Sampson had called him. And what better place to find information than in a local library. Besides, there wasn't much of a computer lab to use internet's search engine… if this world actually had internet access.

Coraline slid down the ladder, and was caught by DJ as he set her back on her feet. "We combed through this whole library, top to bottom, and we still haven't found anything," Coraline sighed as she crossed her arms and huffed the other way. "I swear, it's like finding a needle in a haystack." She looked to DJ with a cocked eyebrow and asked, "Couldn't we ask your folks? I mean, maybe your mom and dad might know."

"They don't know anything about this, Cor," DJ defended. "My mom and Dad don't have any of the abilities that I have."

"And for good reason, too, Boil," a voice called out from down their path.

The two teens looked to where the voice came from and saw a hooded figure pushing a book cart. The voice sounded male with a bit of a hit tone to it, and a goofy eerie tone at best. The figure was cloaked in an old brown druid cloak of sorts, hunched over with the hood on his head covering and shadowing his head and face. But his hands were pretty much shown; they were thin, the fingernails brown and cracking, and the flesh a rotting disgusting green.

The figure then rolled up towards them, as he stopped right next to the two, and asked, "Can I help you, kiddies?"

'Finally, some decent help,' Coraline thought as she walked up. "Yes, sir. We're interested in finding a book…" But she gasped as she saw the figure's face as he pulled back the hood.

Like his hands, the figure's head and neck were all a rotting disgusting green color. His true form was that of an undead body, with yellow dirty hair around the sides of his skull, leaving a few strands on his balding top. He was also missing his nose, as well as a couple of yellow teeth in his mouth, and had yellow eyes, with the left one half open. His sinister grin spread as he spoke out, "Is there a problem, young Ghoul?"

Finding her words again, Coraline spoke up, "Uh, no! No, nothing, not at all." she then fiddled with her hair a bit as she finished, "I… just didn't expect someone working in a library this big to be so…"

"Well-aged?" the gangly corpse answered, a hint of what she was really gonna say dripping from his voice, but his smile never disappearing.

Making sure this didn't get any deep, DJ stepped up as he stood by his human friend. "Yeah, something like that," DJ butted in as he gave his skeleton grin. "We're trying to find a book about a monster type called the Ghost Rider." he then looked around and back to the book librarian, "Anything you recommend?"

"Well, if you ask me… and you did…" he replied as he pointed to the G section and all around. "All this is a bunch of fire lighter material." he then rummaged through the cart he was pulling as he looked for something. "But if it's answers you seek for the Flaming Skeletal Bounty Hunter…" and then pulled out a nearly worn out book, "This should help you right up your… _Abby_."

Coraline took the book and read the title aloud, "Old Western Legends?"

"It's one of my favorites," the librarian chuckled. "After all, the Ghost Rider got his beginnings on a _Blazing_ _Saddle… _atop a Blazing Steed. Heheheheheheheheheheheh!"

The two teens looked to each other, as Cheshire spied on the book, and they looked to the librarian. "We'll take it," DJ replied, but then frowned as he snapped his bony fingers, "Darn it. We don't have a library card."

"Consider it, free of charge, Pumpkin Prince," the librarian replied as he pushed onward, disappearing from their sights. "And continue coming here for your school patronage. And always pray that your next visit… isn't your last. NEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHeeeee….."

"Um… thank you," Coraline stated as she and DJ made their way outta there. As they made a few inches away, and noticing the librarian was gone, she sighed a huge relief, "Man… I've gotta stop being so surprised all the time." she looked to DJ as she confirmed, "I mean, I know I'm living in not just a town, but a world full of monsters, ghosts, and other stuff that go bump in the night, but I just can't get used to it overnight."

"That's why you got me, Cor," DJ playfully nudged her, reminding Coraline that he was the only monster to know of her secret. "I'm here to make sure you fit in, and keep your secret, no matter what."

Coraline smirked as she looped her arm around DJ's arm playfully, "Thanks, DJ."

As the two walked away down the stairs, the librarian popped out from the shadows of one of the larger shelves. The torch next to him shadowed half his rotting face as he chuckled, "I wouldn't say that the Pumpkin Prince is the only one to know of your secret, young Ghoulie. But don't worry… if there's one thing the Crypt Keeper knows… is that loose lips, sink ghost ships." he the shrugged as he replied, "Besides, there's nothing wrong with the living… " he then looked towards a book entitled the Salem Witch Trials. "… unless of course, you're something in between. Which is where our story today takes a turn. In which young Coraline Jones makes another worthy friend… a friend who's on the Borderline of loneliness; being abandoned by one side, and hated by all sides." the Crypt Keeper then flipped the pages as he snickered, "We'll just see if our Miss Jones'll shape up and _bewitch_ this girl a new. In this chapter, I call it… Love is a Witch; Calling all Creeps. It's going to be quite a _bewitchment_. ….......!"

* * *

**Downstairs Section**

* * *

Coraline and DJ were currently at the desk in the library, overlooking the book. A new day had arrived at All Hollow's Eve Academy and Coraline was just going through it. She could see some of her dorm mates just walking up and around; some of them accidentally assuming their true forms. One had a Venus Fly Trap's head while another looked like she had fallen down a well and stayed down there… for a few years or so. Shaking her head, she and DJ continued to paw over the book.

"Still feels like I'm in the middle of a horror movie set," she whispered to herself as she chuckled, expecting a monster to jump out from the bushes and attack. Well, one monster was already at her side as she looked to DJ, whom was spending his time, tuning up his Flying V guitar, when he should have been reading.

It was strange/foreign to her; she had seen skeletons like him in comic books and movies, but it was clearly obvious that DJ was definitely not like them. Sure he was pretty much undead and she wasn't mindless or evil. To Coraline, he just looked like an average boy with that boy-next-door charm and a Heavy Metal attitude. Though there were times, like right after he beat up Sampson, he displayed the behavior and etiquette of a gentleman.

Shaking her head, Coraline continued on looking through the pages, to find anything on the Ghost Rider. To most people who'd heard the rumors, Coraline was in truth a western monster with the strength to match any beast. Viper's defeat was the pretty obvious evidence of such strength. They didn't know that she was good at martial arts, and it would stay that way. Only DJ knew the truth and she trusted him.

DJ was about to explain to her the grading system, but before he began, he was glomped from behind. The softness pressing against him gave away his attacker's identity. "Hi, Lydia."

"Hello, DJ," she purred. "So, about my offer…"

"No," DJ sighed. "I don't want to get married and I don't want to go to your room."

"Oh, Phooey," Lydia pouted, reluctantly detaching herself from DJ's back and walking in stride with Coraline and DJ. But she turned to him, while she winked at him while tracing her finger on her cheek in a seductive way, "I'll get you eventually though. You can't fight fate."

"Watch me," DJ commented under his breath. Then suddenly, the two were glomped on by a massive slimy blue blob. After it schlepped off, Bobby reformed back to his goofy self, as DJ sighed, pulling globs from his hair, along with Lydia, "Hey, Bobby."

"Hey, guys!" Bobby exclaimed with great happiness, but then looked around as he asked in confusion. "They have a library here? MAN! THIS PLACE HAS EVERYTHING!"

Coraline just chuckled at Bobby's little absent minded discovery. Even though she found the indestructible blue blob's semi-lack of intelligence annoying at the worst of times, it was rather enjoyable at the best of times as well. "I think they're posting the midterm results today," Coraline commented, making conversation. "How do you think you did?"

"Don't remind me," Lydia grimaced. "Because of what I had to go through a few days ago, I barely had time to study with Wendy."

"I…try not to think of such things," DJ chuckled nervously. He had studied of course, but he didn't have much confidence in his academics.

"Don't worry," Bobby thrusted his blobby chest out in triumph, "I pulled an all-nighter."

"You studied all night?" Coraline asked in surprise.

"Yep, sure did." But then Bobby just had a dumbfounded look on his face as he asked, "Wait. You're supposed to study?"

"Well, I hope I do well," Coraline smiled and turned to look at DJ. "Do you want to go with me to see the scores later during lunch?"

"Uh…sure," DJ nodded. Oddly enough to the skeleton boy, it was getting increasingly hard to say no to Coraline for anything these days.

"I'm going too!" Lydia quickly spoke up. She instantly latched onto DJ's arm, practically laying claim on him.

"I invited DJ, not you!" Coraline huffed as she grabbed DJ's remaining arm.

"I'm not leaving my Destined One alone with you!" Lydia snapped back. "You'd probably knock his head off at the first chance! Don't think I forgot how intros went with you and Bobby."

"I would not!" Coraline retorted.

"Can we just go please, before…" DJ groaned. Until suddenly, both girls pulled both of his arms out of their sockets. The three of them stood there, taking in this awkward moment as the young skeleton's shoulders slumped. "Oh, great," DJ sighed.

* * *

**Later On**

**Back in the Library Main Room**

* * *

DJ, Coraline, Lydia, and even Bobby stood among the students looking at the midterm results that were posted on the wall of the library. DJ was trying to look for his score. He hoped he did well. He didn't want to fail but he wasn't the best student. The only reason he could do his homework was because of Coraline, who offered to help him in the studies that she excelled in, which was Algebra and Science; some things that eluded him. But now was the test of truth as they scanned for their names.

"I'm number 13!" Coraline cried in surprise. "Alright! I knew that extra studying would pay off!"

"Congratulations, Cor," DJ chuckled before he turned to see where he had ended up. It took him a while, but he found it. "Oh, 128. Well, I suppose that it could be worse."

"I'm sure you'll do better next time," Coraline said encouragingly.

"288!?!" Lydia screeched from where she was looking at her test scored. "Awwwww!!"

"I guess Lydia didn't do so well," DJ chuckled.

"I suppose not," Coraline sweatdropped.

"Oh yeah!" Bobby cheered to himself as he let his jelly body wiggle a victory dance. "0! Awesome!"

The three teens just sweat dropped at their blobby friend as they groaned together, "That's bad, Bobby."

As they were talking, the girl from yesterday, Wendy, strode unnoticed by the others. Ever since Lydia had told her that not only she was rescued by her, but also by the blonde girl, Coraline Jones, and the son of the Pumpkin King, DJ Skellington, she had sorta kept her distance from all three of them for a while. It was more on the sheer randomness of being shy than just trying to avoid them all together. If Lydia wasn't standing next to the three, she would have easily joined her… but since the spider girl stood next to the unknown monster girl, she just couldn't summon up enough courage to go join them. She seemed a little nervous, but still she looked at the board while maintaining her distance from them, but she smirked as she saw the score.

"Wendy Salemon…number 1," she read with a growing smile. "Great!"

"Well, well," a gravelly voice spoke up from behind the younger girl. "Looks like you got the top score again. Looks like you really did deserve to skip grades."

After hearing the voice chill up her spine, Wendy turned around in a heartbeat. In front of her was a teenage boy who was dressed up like a punk bully. He was perhaps 5'9", physically well built like a linebacker and a bodybuilder all in one. His skin was dark, considering he was African American, and his eyes were slightly sunken in while his hair was short and brown. He was dressed in a pair of black baggy jean pants, black belt, black leather combat boots, white tape arm bands from wrist to elbow on both arms, and wore a white tank top undershirt.

His three cronies were both South American and Caucasian. The leader also had an armband on that designated him as a class representative. The two south American boys were both brown skinned and brown shaggy haired, almost like twins, except one was skinny and the other was plump. However, they did have two differences; the skinny one wore an orange cap, while his compadre wore a black snow watch cap, nearly covering his eyebrows. They both wore jean shorts that ended at their knees, blue sneakers, and both wore black hooded sweatshirts. But the Caucasian, was a girl; slim physical figure, and had dark blue hair tied in a long braided ponytail that went down to her back. She wore a black tight tank top, khaki shorts rolled up to her knees, black combat boots, and a loose leather jacket that hung at her elbows.

"Gustav Jones," Wendy frowned, a sound of disgust escaping her throat. "And his cronies, Komo, Do, and Igua."

"Don't get a swelled head though," Gustav hissed. "To me, you're just a little brat who is still stuck to mommy and daddy."

Wendy frowned. Before she could say anything, Gustav swatted her head. "What is with your getup anyway?" he growled. "I hate people who stick out!"

Wendy frowned at this, and then brought her hand from behind. It glowed orange for a moment… and then suddenly a kitchen sink came out of nowhere, and crashed right into Gustav's head. The poor big guy cringed in pain as he clutched his head, agonizing over the pain. Wendy just laughed as she taunted, "That's what you get for messing with me!"

However, Gustav wasn't gonna stand for it, as he glared at her, his eyes slowly becoming yellow, and his fingernails becoming black and sharp. "Hey!" Coraline shouted when she saw this. "Lay off her!" she suddenly ran forward to them, and Wendy blinked at the new girl who came in her defense.

"Stay out of this, Fresh-Meat," hissed the student. "It's none of your business."

"When someone's in trouble, I make it my business," said Coraline, balling up her fist behind her, with no one bothering to hear her knuckles crack from being tightened.

"Do you even know what she is?" hissed the big guy as he pointed to Wendy. "She's nothing more than a filthy little witch, that's what!"

Coraline glanced at Wendy as if to question on what the big deal was, who shrunk back more from her than the bullies, and shrugged. "So? I…" Coraline struggled to come up with a plausible response. When all of a sudden, her black cat jumped on to her shoulders, hissing at the bullies. Then Coraline had an idea, and glared back at them, shouting, "… I'm a witch too! What's the big deal?"

The student growled and his three stooges stood behind him. "Then it looks like we need to show you and Miss Salemon your places," he hissed as he suddenly towered over them, no longer clutching his head but flexing his fingers, readying to slice the girls in half.

"Cor!" the young skeleton called and the student blinked when he saw the famous DJ Skellington run up to the 'New Girl'. "What's going on?"

"Just business as usual," said Coraline. "These guys were just picking on Wendy."

Almost picking that up, Lydia immediately popped up next to them both. The glare she was giving Gustav and his buddies was like shooting a bullet to their heads. "Well, let me in on it," said Lydia, standing right next to Wendy as to protect her dearly. "You mess with her, and you're all going to be my breakfast."

The big guy, Gustav's, eyes narrowed. Even if he could beat up the 'new girl', he could get in trouble for beating on the Academy's most popular kids, even if they didn't know it. "Let's go. It reeks of half-breed scum out here," he said to his cronies before they walked away. DJ watched them go, snorting in annoyance. Once they were far enough, he turned to see the girls, conversing with one another.

Lydia immediately hugged her friend dearly, almost to the point of crushing poor Wendy. "Are you okay?" Lydia asked Wendy as she pulled away, giving her air once again.

"Is it true?" she asked, directing her attention to a confused Coraline.

"What is?"

"That your a witch?"

Coraline gulped at the fact that she had made that little fib. But now there was no turning back, as she sighed and lightly scratched the left side of her neck, turning away as she replied, "Well, I actually prefers the term sorceress, but pretty much."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Bobby slurped up as he looked to Coraline, and smiled, "You're a witch? That's awesome! Can you pull a rabbit out of your hat?"

"Really?" the high-schooler broke out in a smile. Dashing up to Coraline, she became a flurry of questions and words. "What kind of magic does you use? Are you very good? How old are you? Think I can see some of your stuff? Tell me. Tell me! TELL ME! TELL ME!!!!"

"Whoa, whoa. Slow down there," Coraline chuckled as she backed away, feeling a little nervous about the advances. And felt even more nervous when the starry-eyed girl advanced towards her, eager to know more about her. She immediately came up with some straight answers as she came up with what she could answer. "I'm able to create force fields, move objects with my mind, and shoot energy bolts." Wendy seemed to buy it as she "I'm pretty darn good at it since she's been practicing for a while. And I'm fourteen, probably the same age as you."

"Wow!" Wendy gasped in delight. "That's so cool! Oh, I forgot to introduce myself," then in surprise, she bowed politely as she smiled. "My name is Wendy Salemon. It's nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," Coraline nodded. "I'm Coraline Jones. These are my friends: DJ Skellington and, um… Bobby."

"Yeah, we met yesterday, but before that I've heard of all of you," Wendy nodded. "Two of the two of the best looking guys in the school and the new girl who doesn't belong to any known kind. To think I could meet you of all people!"

"Well, I know we're just that popular," DJ smirked as he patted Bobby proudly on the back, almost taking in the fame that he and Bobby were being praised on.

Even Bobby chuckled in delight, "Man, that's so awesome. The only thing I've ever been remembered for was when I ate giant chocolate kiss."

"That wasn't a chocolate kiss," DJ corrected as he sweat dropped, "That was the Mayor. Remember? You spat him back out when you said he tasted like sweat socks."

"I meant Coraline," Wendy frowned and bluntly answered. DJ just face-faulted.

"Oh," Coraline chuckled. "I'm flattered. Say, how about we take these introductions to somewhere else? Say, a table or something?"

"Okay!" Wendy smiled. She grabbed Coraline's hand and beamed brightly.

* * *

**Later On**

**Cafeteria**

* * *

All the students were getting their lunches from the serving area, while most of them sat down with the lunches they did bring. Coraline had just gotten out of line with her lunch in tray and sat down with the others. DJ was just drinking about four cartons of milk, which surprisingly disappeared down his mouth when he did so. Lydia was eating an insect sandwich, followed with a bottle of Gator-Made. Bobby was powering down a tower of Ham and Bologna, which when he ate, was visible from his gelatinous body, dissolved like they were in acid. All Coraline and Wendy had was fresh and normal salads and water.

In the cafeteria, Coraline learnt quite a lot about Wendy. "So, you're a genius, huh?" she even smirked as she pointed her fork at Wendy's clothing, "And a snappy dresser, at that."

"Sure am!" she boasted. "The smartest girl in this school!" but then she blushed embarrassed as she denied, "But my fashion statements pale in comparison to yours, Coraline."

"Well, it must be lonely without other witches here," Coraline pointed out.

"It was," she frowned sadly, "_Especially_ if you're a witch."

"What's wrong with that?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me," she said.

"Well, it's because…" she began to speak but hastily changed the subject. She turned away and smiled to Lydia, "Hey, did Lydia ever tell you guys that we were friend back in Kindergarten here?"

Coraline, DJ, and Bobby whom was more occupied with eating, looked to Lydia for the answers. Lydia just chuckled as she shrugged, "Pretty much. I met her on the playground, sitting by herself at the sandbox. I walked over to her and simply asked if she wanted to play with the clay they had, and she suddenly latched on to me, like she didn't want to let go. Ever since then, we've stuck to each other like glue."

"So, Coraline, do you have a boyfriend?" asked Wendy, earning a lot of surprised glances, minus a still-eating Bobby.

"Well…" Coraline rubbed her neck uncomfortably at the abrupt question. She glanced at DJ. "I have friends who are boys, if that counts."

"Then I'm going to be your girlfriend!" Wendy proclaimed, drawing attention from the other students present.

"What!?" Coraline exclaimed.

"What!?" both DJ and Lydia shouted in shock.

Bobby gulped the last bit of food down as he asked, "Wha..? Who's gonna be who's girlfriend?" he then looked to Coraline as he stated, getting the wrong idea, "Sorry, Coraline, but I'm kinda lookin' for someone with gelatisity."

"That's not a real word," Coraline corrected.

"I meant as best friends, goofball." Wendy stated, laughing at all their expressions, but suddenly, she jumped right at her, and glomped her in a hug, causing a scene. But then she got up as the two sat on the floor, and she calmly stated, "Come on, Coraline. You and I are perfect for each other. We're outcasts."

"Outcasts? What makes you say that?" she asked.

"Um…" Wendy hesitated. "Well, you see…" She got up, along with Coraline as she grabbed her and she ran, dragging the blonde with her. "Let's go!"

Lydia was a bit confused by this as she cocked an eyebrow at her friend's behavior. DJ, still hearing that girlfriend comment, had mysteriously had blood dripping from his nose socket, and blushing cheekbones. Bobby, on the other hand, was a bit confused, as some of his goo formed around his eye, forming a hand, and it made a crude eye stock as he looked at where Coraline and Wendy disappeared, "What're they runnin' away from?"

* * *

**Time Break**

* * *

It wasn't to be the last of Wendy Salemon that Coraline, DJ, Bobby, and Lydia would see. Wherever Coraline went, Wendy was always there. She would grip on to Coraline and chatter with her over anything and everything. She would even cling to Coraline's back playfully, causing the two to fall over comically. But as they were walking down the halls, DJ suddenly ran up to them.

"Cor, wait!" he shouted, getting their attention to stop as he skidded to a halt. After catching his unseen breath, he looked to Coraline as he stated, "Listen, I got some bad news from a few of the students. You remember those…"

"Oh, it's you again. You still come to Coraline at the end," Wendy mumbled, getting both their attention as she started. "Jack Skellington Jr., AKA DJ, AKA the son of the Pumpkin King or the Pumpkin Prince." she then hit him hard as she stated, "Grade are average," an invisible Jab was struck into DJ's gut as she said that. "Athletic abilities are that of a human athlete, but nothing special than average," a secondary jab was struck into DJ's back as he doubled over like an old man. "Average traits are music, rock n' roll, dancing, and tuning his motorcycle. Just reading average on the boring level," three jabs were struck into both DJ's ribs, and skull as he comically was knocked all around from this. She then hit a high blow as she smirked cockingly, "You're like one of those half-assed manga males."

That really got to him as his face contorted into shock, as he clutched his skull and the words echoed into his skull, 'Half-assed male, half-assed male…'

"Hey, wait just a minute…" Coraline stepped in, defending DJ.

But she didn't get the chance to as Wendy stepped in front of her, standing right in front of DJ. "On top of all that," she started as she jabbed him in his rib chest cavity. "I'm not just about to let you go and defile my precious witch friend, Coraline, by the likes of you." she then pulled from her pouch bag, and in a show of magic, she whipped out a pretty cool stylized broom, similar to what you'd see in Harry Potter's first movie. She then waved the broom around, like a staff as she twirled around, the bristles of the broom began to glow bright blue, as she chanted out, "_Rastil Magista, Lilac… SPIRITUS!_"

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind popped out of nowhere from underneath them. The gust shot towards the cleaning lockers, busting it open, and all the gear came flying out. It suddenly torpedoed DJ straight into the wall, knocking him into pieces, as he groaned out, "UGH…."

Wendy just giggled aloud as she stood triumphantly, with her broom nestled on her shoulders like a Bo staff. She shot out with her tongue. "As a witch, who can manipulate the wind all around her, I, Wendy Salemon, will make sure that no one comes near my fellow witch, Coraline Jones, without my say so."

Around the corner, going completely unnoticed… on the ceiling, the girl, Igua had overheard the whole thing. The girl smirked as she wall-crawled away, chuckling, "I heard that; for those who have disguises, revealing one's identity's against the rules. Gustav's gonna have kittens when he hears this."

Coraline gasped as she ran towards the skeleton boy. "Hey, are you okay, DJ?" she cried as she skidded to a halt and knelt down to check on her friend. She did her best to help him back together. "DJ, are you okay?"

"Ow, my head," DJ groaned as he finally brushed his skull and put it back on his neck, popping it in place. "Crazy witch," he muttered and popped his eye back into its empty socket.

Frowning, she walked over to Wendy and snatched her broom away. "Hey!" the witchling shouted. "Give that back!"

"My father always said you should use your gifts responsibly. That wasn't a responsible use of your gift," she explained.

"But he's trying to take you away from me!" reasoned Wendy as she snatched the broom away and cradled it protectively. "I have to protect you."

"DJ's my friend, just like both Lydia and Bobby is," but then frowned at Wendy as she huffed. "You? I'm not so sure," she said. She then scolded, "Look, you can't go around doing that kind of stuff. You'll be hated by everyone, and sooner or later, you're gonna be all alone."

Wendy swatted away the idea as she defiantly stated, "Why would a witch have lower-intelligent friends like that hanging around?" she then looked away, saddened as she mumbled, "Besides… Lydia and you are the only friends I have. I'm already hated by everyone in Halloween Town. I thought you were different, but you're just the same as them."

"Huh?"

"Jerkface! I hate you!" she waved her broom and this time a washing pale came crashing down on Coraline's head, and another, and another. Poor Coraline was seeing stars and birds flying around her head, until she collapsed on the ground next to the young Pumpkin Prince. Wendy just stood there, shaking with anger as she shouted, "I never wanna talk to you again!" and then ran off in the opposite direction.

"What is her deal?" DJ groaned as he got up and rubbed his head. Having taken harder hits to the head, he recovered quickly. Suddenly, Lydia and Bobby came running in as they found the two.

Coraline was next to do so, with Lydia's help as she groaned. "She really is a witch."

"Hey, come on," Lydia shot back in defense for her friend, "You don't really mean that. It's not her fault that you got her upset."

"Well, why did she say that everyone here in Halloween Town hates her?" she asked, with much needed answers on this.

* * *

**Outside**

* * *

Wendy sniffled as she ran. She was so sure that she and Coraline would understand each other. She was the only witch and she was the new witch in town and in school. She even had trouble fitting in, so she should have been more understanding of her situation. Instead, she scolded her when she tried to make sure they stayed together. But as she ran, all she could hear in her head, was whispers of disgust and revulsion from her former classmates.

_So she's a witch, eh?_

_How can this be? What's a filthy Border Being doing in our school, much less in our town?_

_Isn't the witches main trick is to ensnare males?_

_All she does is read books and cast spells. She's nuthin' but a freak._

_Speaking of which, aren't witches more human than monster or demon?_

_There's no need for her to even be in this school, right?_

_Yeah, no need for her at all._

_I'll bet she uses her magic to get good grades._

Her dashing alone the back of the school, she suddenly slowed down, and came to a stop. After hearing and remembering all those voices, she sniffled a bit, and a single tear dropped from her cheek. She then muttered to herself as she tried to dry away her tears, "Even if I'm alone… I'm… I'm fine with it."

Suddenly, a body collided with her, knocking her to the ground. Shaking her head, she looked up to see who had collided with as she shouted, "Hey, you idiot! Watch where you're going!" Her eyes widened and her heart sank when she saw the face of the behemoth, Gustav, and his crony friends.

"Well, well, look at what we have here," Gustav smirked while his cronies chuckled. "Now we have our little witch all alone. We also know you revealed your true form to that fake witch and his friends. You know that's against the rules!"

"Uh…uh..," Wendy gulped. But then she became confused as she asked, "Wait, Coraline's not a real witch?"

"She just said that…" Komo started, and Do finished, "… to make you feel better. That nobody…"

"… just took pity on you," Komo finished.

"Well, we'll just have to exact punishment for this," the big guy smirked. He then grabbed her by her shirt's collar, off the ground as the six foot giant brought her up to his eye level. "Follow me."

"Nooooo!" Wendy cried as she struggled against the strong grip. "Lemme go!"

* * *

**Back Inside

* * *

**

"Border beings?" Coraline repeated.

"Witches are considered outcasts since they are neither human nor monster. Back in the 1600s, they were hunted and burned during the Salem Witch Trials, leading most witches to extinction. While here in the Halloween World, a few monsters see them in disgust; considering that they're mostly human," said Lydia. "In fact, Wendy's being harassed by her classmates because of that. It's worse because she's a lot smarter than them and she's the only witch known on the campus. It's because of that, she sometimes plays pranks to get back at her classmates," added Lydia. "That's what led her to get caught by Viper. Apparently she pulled a prank, making Viper's skin molt off a lot sooner than it need be… along with the rest of her clothing… in her dorm house lounge."

'So…that's what she meant,' Coraline thought to herself, remembering what Wendy had said about them being outcasts. She must have meant since she had blabbed out that she was a witch, but mostly because she was new to this world, she knew what it meant to be outside the group in that case. "Must be lonely," stated Coraline, understanding how it felt to be an outcast herself.

"Okay, now we have to go find her," DJ sighed. "Where do you go when you want to be alone out here so you can mend hurt feelings?"

"I'd usually go to the fridge," Bobby shot out.

"There's plenty of space in the woods," Lydia offered.

"Let's try there then," DJ nodded. "You shouldn't be alone for this kind of thing, especially when you've been alone as long as Wendy has."

* * *

**In the Dark Forest**

* * *

"Ow!" Wendy cried as she was thrown against a tree. She slowly scrambled on to her feet, holding her arm as she looked around to see herself surrounded by Gustav and his cronies.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for this," Gustav hissed as he cracked his knuckles. "A little freak like you has no place here!"

Before Wendy's terrified eyes, the skin of the three goons cracked as their faces elongated. Their hands turned to claws while their eyes turned yellow and slitted. Wendy recognized what these three were. They were Lizardmen! But then she took notice of Gustav's transformation. His whole body grew from six feet to about eight feet in height. His muscles became enormous, almost beyond orc or troll. His skin cracked into dark green scales, and on his shoulders and elbows, small bone-like spike protrusions jetted out, along with his claw-like fingernails and toenails bursting and destroying his shoes. His jaw elongated a little as his old human teeth shot out, being replaced by yellow crocodile razor sharp teeth, along with his eyes going yellow and slitted as well. Wendy was even more terrified now, for she learned that the true identity of their leader, was an eight foot tall, 9" wide gorilla of a Crocodileman!

"Now… what are we gonna do to you?" the Croc-Man growled.

"Back off!" Wendy cried out as she drew her broom. Before she could complete her spell, the giant Croc-Man grabbed the wand and chomped the top off.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he laughed. "Did I break your little sweeping broom?" he then spat out the wood chips as he mockingly apologized. "Whoops! Now where were we?"

"Hey boss!" hissed Igua. "Let's eat her!"

"Good idea," Gustav laughed. And looked her down, head to toe, with his lips watering with saliva. The scene made Wendy shutter. "I'll bite her head off! Bet her brains alone will be filling!"

"N… no," Wendy whispered in fear, her eyes quivering as she saw Gustav stomping forward. He then leapt forward with his jaws wide open. Wendy could see every single one of his sharp teeth and the back of his throat. The little witch couldn't hold back and she screamed in terror, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Suddenly, a mechanical and yet beastly roar bellowed.

The Croc-Man was suddenly tackled by DJ and Coraline, both riding on his motorcycle at high speed. Wendy and the other three Lizardmen could only watch as Gustav was run over by the bike, leaving a skid mark on his white t-shirt. The bike then retreated to stand in front of Wendy while the Lizardmen regrouped.

"Wendy!" Lydia cried, appearing on the scene as she web-slinged over to her, with Bobby bouncing right behind her.

"Lydia? Bobby?" Wendy gasped. "DJ? Coraline?"

Coraline and DJ immediately hopped off the bike as they joined up with Wendy and the others. DJ and Coraline both had a solid glare trained on the three Lizardmen who looked ready to kill them all. "Get out of our way!" the Croc-Man growled at the group of two girls and two boys who were defending the little witch who so richly deserved punishment by her.

"Fat chance," DJ frowned. "I'm not going to let some punks beat up a young girl, especially if she's a witch."

"Same here," Coraline defended as she spoke out the truth. "It's true, I am pretty much a loner in this school; like her, I was alone in this school. Until I met DJ, Bobby, Lydia…" she then turned and smiled to Wendy, "… and even Wendy."

"Ben?" asked Wendy with some surprise. "Coraline?" The two was coming to her defense even after all the things she had done? Even after how he had scolded her at school? She sniffled a bit, trying to hide her tears, not from shame, but from mere embarrassment.

The Lizard creeps and Croc-Man just stood there dumbfounded as they thought the same thing. These kids had completely turned the mood of the moment. But all that was fixed as Gustav got back on his feet as he charged right at them, roaring out loud, "And what do you think you can do about it!?!"

However, Wendy immediately ran at Gustav… and bit him in the tail like a dog would. Annoyed than howling in pain, the Croc-Man snarled as he brought up his right claw, and hissed, "YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!!!!"

SLASH!!!

Immediately, DJ grabbed Wendy out of there in time, but not before he got slashed in the back by Gustav. He skidded on the ground, still holding on to Wendy. When she opened her eyes, she saw the skeleton boy on top of her. "Wha…?" she asked, half-dazed. "What are you doing?"

DJ smirked, seeing that she wasn't hurt, "Good. Guess I got to you in time."

"Get off!" Even though she was amazed by him coming after her, she still didn't like him as she tried to get him off. "I told you and Coraline: I don't want low-level…" however, she stopped as she heard him wince. It was then that she noticed as they got up, fresh slash marks, nearly digging into his back bones and ribs.

"I'm just…" DJ smirked painfully with only one eye open, "… I guess I just don't like my friends getting hurt, is all."

"Hey, small fry!" Gustav called out as DJ got back on his feet, with Wendy still being protected. "The small drama's way over now! So I'll ask again: what are you gonna do?"

"Anything I can!" DJ frowned as he concentrated hard. From what Coraline and he had read in that book, the user of the powers of the Ghost Rider, could summon the power if the host's will was strong enough. Looking deep inside himself, and praying that this worked, he opened his eyes, with the one empty socket flaming up. Afterwards, he fully transformed… into the Ghost Rider.

"Sugoi!" Yukari gasped as she took in the sight of the Ghost Rider. "I've only read stories about this creature. The Devil's Bounty Hunter, the one sent to find and drag back the tainted souls and demons that escape Hell itself. The only mortal monster in the world that was said to wiedl the Hellfire itself. And the most powerful monster in ever existence."

"What the-?!" one of the Lizardmen gasped in shock. "Just what the hell are you?!"

"Your worst nightmare," DJ smirked. "And you are my scaly new punching bags!"

He walked over to his bike, and touched it with both his hands. He roared aloud as the bike suddenly started to change. Its shape had changed as well; the front light head had changed into a devil skull's front head with the eyes glowing yellow red flame. The handles were normal, but were morphed into a skeletal limb and chain design. Both the wheels were on fire but didn't burst or burn up. The tail of the bike had reformed into two bone like pipes sticking out to the back. The engine was encased in a red ribbed cage protecting it from harm. The entire bike was colored red, orange and black, like flames in a roaring wildfire.

Hopping on the bike, DJ began to revved it up. Kicking up dust, DJ fired at the Lizardmen at a rapid pace. None of them could move quickly enough before being bowled down like bowling pins, with flame trails left behind his bike's roaring speed. They cried in pain as they were knocked to the sides and over the ground. Spinning to a stop, the bike stopped and DJ got back on his feet as he turned to face the recovering Lizardmen.

"Had enough?" he smirked.

"Not even close!" Gustav growled as he and his buddies got back to their feet. He glared dangerously at DJ as he hissed, "I dare you to try that again!"

"You asked for it!" DJ laughed before he started stomping towards the Croc-Man and the three Lizardmen.

One of the brothers, Do, charged with a snarling mouth fool of teeth. His claws were raised and ready to cut him open. Leaping forward, he was about to slash at DJ's body. Then suddenly, Bobby leapt at Do, and simply swamped all over him, encasing the Lizardman; the scene looked like a blob in a lava lamp, swirling around as Bobby chuckled happily. And then with a quick bloat, Bobby shot him out up in the air, like a cannon firing a cannon ball.

"Aaugh!" the Lizardman cried as he started to hurdle down to the earth.

DJ chuckled deeply, "Here. Let me PUNCH it better!"

Rearing back his flaming right fist, DJ laid one into the Lizardman's jaw. The underling flew back with a resounding crack and landed at the feet of his boss and fellow minion.

"Time to make like a Sumo Slamdunk!" Bobby chuckled before he took a flying leap into the air. He was aiming to put a belly flop onto the three bully cronies.

"Ahhh!" the three weaker Lizardmen cried before they ran out from under the descending alien.

"Ah man. Missed," Bobby grumbled as he got up. "And I ate some dirt," he whined, but stopped for a moment, as he got a good taste of it, and smirked, "Mmmmm. Mud pie."

"Glad you got your fill," grinned DJ. "Now let's teach these walking handbags a lesson!" Bobby nodded as he rolled up into a ball before rolling straight towards them. DJ ran alongside the blob as Lydia used her four spider legs to nearly fly overhead of them.

Immediately Bobby ran over one of them and flattened him to the ground as Lydia showed that her claws and webs weren't decorative, as she slashed the Lizardgirl with her claws, and spun them in a web made cocoon, before using a roundhouse kick to finally put her down. Looking up, she could see Bobby dropping in and she flew out of the way for him to crush the Lizardman.

DJ was left to face off the lead Lizardman, or Croc-Man, Gustav, and snorted, "Pretty pathetic, ganging up on somebody defenseless. You must be pretty weak if you need four of you to bully one little girl."

"You boney bastard!!!" Gustav hissed before charging at DJ with his claws. "I'LL BREAK YOU!!!"

He grabbed onto DJ's throat as he lifted him off the ground with both clawed hands. However, DJ growled fighting back from Gustav's grip. "No, I'll break you!" he announced. He whistled out loud, as the two saw DJ's bike, suddenly coming to life on its own, and charge right at them at high speed, leaving flames behind him. DJ then gave Gustav a massive, and flaming, head butt, that nearly set the Croc-Man's head ablaze, causing him to let go of the boy as the bike rammed right into the lizard man. The impact hit with a crack, and sent the Lizardman flying into the water nearby. He groaned in pain when he sank deep into the water, leaving bubbles on the surface.

After all was said and done, DJ walked up to Coraline and Wendy before he flashed in a black cloud and turned back to his usual normal bony self. He rubbed his back, "Man, I gotta ease up on those headbutts."

"It was your idea," Coraline snickered.

"Anyway," DJ sighed. He turned to see Wendy. "You okay?"

"Wh…why?" asked Wendy. "Why did you come and help me?"

"Are you dumb or something?" DJ sighed. "We may not have gotten off on the right foot, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"Yeah," Coraline smiled. "I am pretty much the odd girl out here. I really wouldn't mind being friends again. I thought we got along pretty well."

"No one should have to be alone all the time," Lydia smiled.

Wendy blinked, then started sniffling, then broke out crying loudly. Lydia was quick to react as she wrapped her dear friend up in a hug. And surprisingly, Coraline walked up as she hugged the two girls. DJ just crossed his arms, and kind of looked away embarrassingly, while Bobby, for no reason at all, joined in on the crying. The witch girl continued to cry loudly; she was so happy at this point. She wouldn't be alone or lonely anymore. She finally had friends who liked her.

* * *

**Afterwards**

**A Few Days Later**

It was a couple of days since the incident with Wendy and the Lizardmen. Presently, Coraline and Lydia, along with Cheshire, were carrying boxes to their classroom for Miss Katsy.

"So Wendy is getting along with her class now?" asked Coraline curiously.

"Yeah," Lydia nodded happily. "She apologized for pulling so many pranks on her classmates and she's been doing better."

"That's good," the young blonde nodded. "At least she won't be bullied anymore. We probably took care of that."

And as soon as they opened the door, they were shocked by a big surprise. DJ was there, but along with him, as he nervously sweat dropped, it was Wendy. However, she had changed her attire; it was still the same ensemble of clothing, but now it was black and orange now. And surprisingly enough, she was hugging DJ, and rubbing him cheek to cheek.

HUH!?" Both girls exclaimed, dumfounded by Wendy's proclamation. But Lydia was most shaken up, which was evident with a vein popping on her forehead, as she asked, "Um, Wendy? What are you doing?"

"Well," Wendy admitted shyly. "Ever since I saw DJ in action, I just couldn't bear to be away from him." she then broke the hug as she cupped her blushing cheeks, "When I was pushed down by him, I felt a very strong mature atmosphere in him. In other words, I hope he'll push me down a few more times."

DJ hung his head down in hopelessness for a moment, until he popped up comically and yelled, "That's not gonna happen anytime soon!"

"Now hold on a second!" Coraline gaped. "How…how can you be in love with him just like that?"

"Love knows no bounds!" Wendy announced. "It was meant to be! It's fate!" She then winked at her blonde friend as she smirked, "Of course, I don't mind sharing him with you girls."

"Ooooohh!" Coraline gulped. She didn't know what to say in this situation. Wendy seemed downright determined to keeping a relationship with DJ. How both a witch and a Spider-girl was now in a hard-crush relationship with the same guy was beyond her.

Down the hall, going completely unnoticed by them all, the Crypt Keeper was pushing another cart of books to the library. When he spotted them, he merely chuckled, "It seems young Coraline Jones has once again dodged the bullet from Death, and gained a witchy new ghoul-friend in the process. The only downfall is that she's gained another competitor for the young Pumpkin Prince's heart… if she wants it literally, that is." He then started to scooter away as he chuckled, "Like I told you before, 'Love is a Witch', ain't it? Oh well, see you next time, Kiddies! … ...!"

It seemed like another day at All Hollow's Eve Academy.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Howling at the Moon; Bug-Eyed Geeks**


	7. BugEye Geeks and Class Clowns

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Bug-Eye Geeks and Class Clowns; Hellfire vs. Happy Hour**

* * *

**A Few Weeks Ago**

* * *

The auditorium of the school was pretty much like the school and the rest of the town. Old, dirty, and spooky were the words that would best describe it in its appearance. The building was large and vast in size, echoing the rattles and wood creaks whenever the footsteps were made in the point of entry. Cob webs were decorated on the beams and walls of the ceiling, making them into makeshift curtains. The wood was nearly close to falling apart, but had enough strength to support any weight on it. In truth, it looked like an old-fashioned Italian opera house, just like in the 2004 version of Phantom of the Opera.

However, deep within the theatre, far away from anyone to hear anything, something else was going on. Two teenagers, one preppy yet skimpy-dressed brunette, was leaning next to one of the walled sets, with her boots off, making out with one of the jocks from Hollow's Eve High. His jersey jacked was on the ground, as was the girl's boots as the two were smacking lips and moaning out, with nothing disturbing them.

The girl moaned a little in delight as the jock was kissing at her neck, "Ah! Careful, Johnny. That's my sweet spot."

"Oh, really?" Johnny smirked, as he crept his hand up behind the girl's back, under her shirt, "Because last time I checked, this was your sweet spot."

The girl yelped in surprised and giggled at that as she pulled him in close, "Come here, you big bad reptile, you," and then locked lips yet again once more. However, if the two had taken notice upward at the ceiling beams above, the darkened area to where the stage lights were posted, as well as the two Masks, Comedy and Tragedy were in the center, gazing down over with the eerie silence and the small creaking noises only made the scene even more creepy if they just noticed what was being revealed up in the darkened shadows… a pair of red eyes, and a yellow toothed smile.

The two continued to make out as the girl pulled off Johnny's shirt and ran her hands all around his tight-muscled chest. The boy was close to pulling off the girl's shirt, until she heard a creaking sound coming from within the theater.

She struggled a little, slightly scared on what that sound was, "Johnny, stop. Johnny!" he stopped as he sighed out of annoyance as the freaked out girl looked into the blackened forest, "Did you hear that? I thought there was something in here with us."

"This place is old, Chelsea. It's bound to make a few noises," Johnny groaned as he attempted to go back into making out mode once more, "C'mon, let's get back to…"

"Wait!", Chelsea pleaded as she heard a sort of growled chuckle breathing from somewhere nearby, "I thought I heard something. It sounded… it sounded like… somebody laughing."

"Probably some pervert," Johnny smirked, "If you ask me, let him watch…" and then lunged at her, nuzzling her neck with his lips playfully.

Chelsea fought back as she was getting more freaked out and frustrated, "Johnny, I'm serious here… Johnny!" and finally pushed him away for a moment, holding herself in order to shield his advances.

"What is your problem, babe?" Johnny asked, getting slightly annoyed. At that moment, before any of them noticed or even saw it, a lanky figure jumped up into the highest beam above from where they were at. And then slowly made his way towards them, going down one level to the other, similar to like how a monkey or a squirrel would do in such a fashion. His original aim was for the boy as it slowly and quietly made its descent over him, but the smell of fear coming from the girl, made her favored for later.

"Take a look around, Chelsea," Johnny stated as he backed away for a few seconds, and pointed all around them, "Do you see anybody else?"

"Johnny, seriously," Chelsea pleaded her boyfriend to listen, "I heard something. It sounded like a… like somebody was laughing."

"Laughing?" Johnny asked scoffing the notion, "That's crazy, I don't hear any…" but his sentence was cut off, as someone jumped off the ceiling beams. The figure, still remained in the shadows, landed on the floor on his feet. The figure swayed his arms a little as he chuckle under his breath.

The two teens were a little jumpy as Johnny stepped in front of his girl, shielding her. Suddenly, he slowly transformed as his skin became bright orange and scaly. Bony plates shot out of his back, along with a few plates on his knees and elbows, as did a tail with a mace tip on it. His face became more reptilian as he snarled out, not liking this guy just popping out, "Alright! Who are you?"

The figure, still in the shadows and swaying his arms, didn't answer for a while. It was hard for Johnny or Chelsea to even identify this guy, even if he was in the shadows. However, the only visible thing about him, was his feet. They were as pale white as chalk, with green toenails almost sharpened to claw points. On the feet were black ankle guards, and going from his heel to up his knee were light purple and dark purple striped spat guards. Following up, shiny darkened pants with two clown like orange belts dangling around his waist. With his hands dangling, it revealed that they were also chalk white, and wore light purple fingerless gloves, and had probably some spandex long-sleeved shirt on.

The figure was silent for a moment, until he spoke up, "I was feeling kind of puckish, so I… went straight to the feeding grounds."

"Johnny," Chelsea whimpered out in panic, looking at the strange figure and hiding behind her boyfriend.

Johnny snarled as he shouted, "Enough joking around! Who are you!?!"

The figure stopped swaying as he stood straight up, smirking an evil grin. In a fast motion, he whipped out something from his sleeve, and held it out into the light. It was a red, violet, green, and white Joker card. "Here's my card," he said with a smirk. Then, his green claw like fingernails extended out a bit, and they shot out a strange green gas.

The gas encompassed the whole room, nearly covering the whole area. Both teens accidentally took wisps of the gas in their mouths as they tried to swat it away from their area. However, they were coughing up a storm as they tried to get out of there. But they stumbled about in the room, trying to gain some footing. And just when they were about to get out… the two started to laugh.

It was a small laugh, as it slowly made its way into their system. At first, they were merely chuckling, almost as if something funny popped into their heads at a moment unnoticed. Then finally, they both erupted in an insane cackle, their voices bursting out with uncontrollable laughter. The two were nearly close to splitting their sides at this moment, until the shadowed figure stepped up to them, his red eyes and yellow smile somehow still in sight.

All that was shown now was all three of their shadows on the floor. Sprouting out of the stranger's back, lamprey like tentacles shot out, wrapping around the still laughing teens. Despite the imminent danger the couple was in, the two teenagers wouldn't stop laughing, as it echoed and changing pitch with every second. Then suddenly, the two teens were slurped into something; their laughs now changed into screams as they disappeared into the clown.

As the green smoke settled out, the shadowed figure stood on the stage. The tentacles retracting back into him as he looked at his handiwork. Where the two teens were, were now vacant spots, with nothing there. However, the only proof of their existence were their clothing, shoes, underwear and all. The figure then let out a mighty and comical belch as he chuckled, "Ah, not bad for an early appetizer," he then licked his lips with a sickly green tongue as he chuckled, "Now, let's just hope we can get some more… before the main course."

* * *

**Now…**

**Monstars House**

**Boys Dorm**

**DJ's Room**

* * *

DJ's room was similar to your typical teenage boy's room… except he was a walking, talking, and monster skeleton. Posters of rock stars, from Ozzie to KISS were all present, including one of a pale female rocker, with blue hair that flamed at the ponytail. The table was wooden, with bat carving designs on it, and littered with papers. A TV was put in the Living Room table in the kitchen, and Zero's bed, where the little ghost dog was sleeping at this time, was next to DJ's. His bed was black and metallic, with gothic design of bats as well. He was currently sitting at his table, reading the book that he and Coraline had picked up.

He was currently reading on one chapter, as he read it aloud. "Okay," he stated as he took a deep breath, "The Host Body can take control of the Power within, through a powerful force of will." He shrugged on it as he closed the book. "Let's give it a try," he told himself as he got up, and held his right fist out as he spoke to himself, "I am speaking to the Fire Power within… Give me control, over the Power Within…"

At first, nothing seemed to work, making DJ sighed with disappointment. That is… until his hand started to smoke a bit. DJ's eyes lit up as he slowly opened his fist up, extending his fingers out. And soon in a flash, his fingers and hand had gone aflame. The young skeleton boy smirked at this, "Alright."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

DJ shot up as he threw the flame ball aside, as he ran to his dorm room door. He immediately opened it, and was surprised to see the occupant that had knocked on his room door. "Cor?"

"Hey, DJ," Coraline waved as she stood at DJ's Door. "Mind if I come in?"

It was when those words were uttered, his expression froze in cold fearful shock. A girl was asking if she could come into his room. Even though she was a breather/fleshie… or rather… a regular human in the World of Halloween… she was still a girl nonetheless. So, taking a deep breath, and in a fast paced voice, he replied, "…" his face suddenly went blank, and he regained his cool as he did a profile shot stance, as he simply replied in a cool tone, "Sure."

With a cocked eyebrow from the bone boy's behavior, Coraline gave a smile as she walked in. "Okay," she nervously replied, but stopped as she noticed a smoking spot to where the flame ball was thrown. She turned to look at him as she asked, "Playing with matches?"

As he closed the door, DJ answered, "Nah, I was just practicing using the Hellfire." He walked over to his room and came back with the book, "I finally took some time, and read this thing." he then sat down on the couch, and watch as Zero woke up.

The ghost dog looked around, and saw Caroline come over as he yipped in delight. She knelt down as she welcomed the dog in her arms, "Aww, hey, Zero. How you been, boy?" the ghost dog barked affectionately with the young girl as he licked her face. She giggled, "Ahahahaha! C'mon, boy. Stop it; you're tickling me!" she picked up Zero as she sat down next to DJ and asked, "Hey, DJ. Are you doing anything this Friday?"

The young skeleton cocked an eyebrow at this, and turned away. Without Coraline noticing, not even Zero, DJ paled even more as his thoughts screamed with panic, 'OH, GREAT PUMPKINS! Is she asking me out? Sheesh! At first, I could handle Lydia; it's easy when one girl crushes on you. Wendy… well, she's kinda nice, but I'm not into mischief making as she is. And Coraline… well… she's like my only friend who's a girl. Since when did she decide to be a girlfriend? That and she's a human, so I know that Necro-relationships arent on her mind! So why the change in heart? Okay, stay calm, stay calm. Just tell her the truth, and then politely reject it. It'll leave a strain in our friendship, but you'll have… probably done the right thing.' after struggling with his thoughts for a while, he cleared his throat and turned around as he asked, "Um… nothing in particular. Why?"

"Well, I heard from a few students that the school has an auditorium," Coraline fiddled with her hair as she shyly looked away. "There's not much use for it until the Fall Season. And a few students are using it for their own spare time." She then turned back to DJ's direction as she got to the question, "So… do you wanna come along with me?"

"Um… sure," DJ finally answered, and innerly sighed now knowing it wasn't for a date.

* * *

**Outside**

Near the boy's dorm, a familiar ghoulish fellow was working on the backyard dorm's grill. It was none other than the Crypt Keeper, wearing his usual dirty business suit, with the cloak on top without the hood, and wearing a hilarious apron reading 'How's My Embalming?' and cook cap… frying brains. He properly took one fresh brain off the preparation plate as he hummed to himself, "Alrighty, this is your brain." the Keeper then put it on the grill, as the living computer sizzled and popped from the heat. "Now this is your brain… on drugs," he chuckled as he flipped it on the other side. Then he turned his attention to another fresh brain, as well as a mallet used to soften the meat. "And this is your brain from reading this story," he chuckled as he took the mallet… and slammed it on the brain, mashing it into paste.

"I must say, I too was in a bit of a Shocker, when I thought young Coraline Jones was about to ask Skellington on for a Scare Date," the Crypt Keeper mused himself, as he sprinkled a little meat tenderizer on the cooking brain. "Though, I have to admit it; going to the auditorium, it screams of culture. And kids today need culture." he then scrapped the now finished brain burger on a moldy green hamburger bun, and slathered it in jelly brains and tadpole tails.

"That's right! Instead of rotting their grey matter, those kiddies are going to improve it. With a little tasteful tale, about a large minded bug-eyed genius, and a Battle of the Theatrical, in which I entitled… Bug-Eye Geeks and Class Clowns; Hellfire vs. Happy Hour." he then brought the sandwich up to his mouth as he finished, "Bone apatite. …!"

* * *

**All Hollow's Eve Academy**

**Auditorium**

The auditorium of the school was pretty much like the school and the rest of the town. Old, dirty, and spooky were the words that would best describe it in its appearance. The building was large and vast in size, echoing the rattles and wood creaks whenever the footsteps were made in the point of entry. Cob webs were decorated on the beams and walls of the ceiling, making them into makeshift curtains. The wood was nearly close to falling apart, but had enough strength to support any weight on it. In truth, it looked like an old-fashioned Italian opera house, just like in the 2004 version of Phantom of the Opera.

Coraline and DJ were walking on the stage, taking in on the massive stage. They stopped when they reached the center of it. As they stopped to put their book bags down, DJ looked around suspiciously. "I don't get it," DJ stated and asked, "Where are the others? Usually, Lydia would pounce on me right about now. Bobby would be sliming on by in here, eating ham or hot dogs. And Wendy would be summoning kitchen sinks to fall on our heads."

"Don't worry about that," Coraline answered as she turned to face him. Her smirk conveyed a deviousness to it as she finished, "I gave them something to do. Something that no one, neither human or Halloweener, can possibly do, with magic or venom."

"Okay, I'm afraid to ask. But what?"

* * *

**Back at the dorms**

"Roll over, sit up, Beg!" Lydia was shouting her head off at this point. There she was, standing next to an exhausted Wendy, and a gorging Bobby, and her all fuming with anger. The three were standing right next to a table, with Cheshire on top of it, and just laying down like a cat would usually do on a daily basis. Unfortunately, Coraline had asked them to do the impossible: train him to do a few tricks.

Wendy just sighed as she pulled her broom out, and held it until it floated in mid-air. She then hopped on it and sat there with her legs crossed and huffed, "Can't we just give up, Lydia? You've been trying to get him to do stuff all day, and he hasn't budged one bit."

"I have to get him to do something," Lydia begged as she looked hopeful at the ceiling, the dim rays of the Halloween Sun popping out, shining on her like a godsend. "We made a bet. The deal was if I could make Cheshire do any kind of trick, she'd convince DJ to go on a date with me."

"Aw man," Wendy snapped her fingers in a rut. "I should've gotten in on that bet. I'd love to see you crash and burn, and get something out of it."

As the two friends stared down on one another, trying to argue amongst themselves, Bobby was looking around. He was suspicious about something as he guzzled down the roasted weenies. "Hey, something's not right," the blob boy stated as he cocked his eyebrow, looking around with suspicion of the sort. Until finally, he turned to look at the girls and ask, "Where the hot dog buns?"

The two girls sighed, as Lydia went back to attempt in training the cat. "C'mon, Cheshire! Do something!" the room was quiet as Cheshire cracked open his eye, looking annoyed at the spider-girl. He blinked his eyes tirelessly, until finally he did something: he yawned and fell back to sleep. Lydia just turned around and yelled out loud in frustration, walking away from Cheshire and the others.

The black cat just yawned aloud, looking away as he mumbled, "Coraline had better appreciate this; and that can of tuna better be XXX-large."

* * *

**Back at the Auditorium**

Coraline stopped as she looked at the empty space of the stage, which was pretty large. DJ, on the other hand, walked over to where something caught his interest. He strode over to a classical piano, a bit dusty and cobwebbed, but no biggie to him. He brushed off a bit of the dust from off the seat and sat down on it. He pushed back the keyboard cover as his bony fingers gently brushed on the keys. He then rested both his hands on the keys; he looked at the keys as he smirked, "Looks like you're still good. Let's see if you can handle the DJ Master at the keys."

Earlier before, when DJ was preoccupied by the piano, Coraline stopped at the center of the stage. She looked at the vast audience rows that seemed to stretch on for miles. She looked at the balcony high above, almost imagining that there were people up in them, as well as the chairs down below. She pictured the lights on, music in the air, and the roar of an applause made all around. She took off her shoes, and her green vest as she piled them aside. Then suddenly, she heard a piano solo coming from nowhere.

She stood straight up, and brought her arms out and slowly stood on her toes, in a ballerina stance. She slowly twirled in a 360 degree angle, with her leg over the other, and her hands high above her head. She then stuck out her right leg, making it a perfectly accurate and balanced 90 degree angle. And then she used the same leg to step forward, to take a swan stance. And afterwards, a chorus of dance erupted from her, from a slow pace, as graceful as a swan, to an eruption of emotion through all her moves.

This continued on through about nine to ten minutes of the amazing music and her dancing. Coraline then slowed her pace down once more, following along with the music that went with it, as she gracefully glided to where the music was being played. When she turned around in one final turn on her toes, she stopped as she was surprised to see who was that was playing the music. It was DJ himself as he gently played the keyboard on the piano, looking all professional as he played, not noticing her walk up behind him.

DJ was so wrapped up in his little piano recital, that when he felt the presence behind him, he turned around. When he saw Coraline, his face immediately went from relaxed to shocked. He stumbled as his arms flailed around as he half-fell off the piano, while still sitting down, as he half-smirked in embarrassment, as he stuttered, "Uh, sorry about that. I got…"

"You play very beautifully," Coraline answered surprisingly. She walked over as she leaned on the piano and teased, "Though I find it very hard for a punk rocker like you to play something as elegant as this. Just how many instruments can you play?"

DJ smirked, seeing that his embarrassment washed away as he answered, "Well, I don't mean to be so modest, but just the piano and the guitar." Letting his modesty get the better of him, he shrugged as he commented, "I'm also a pretty good vocalist, and a…" he then stepped up as he slid over in a break dance move, and winked at her. "… a pretty good dancer to boot."

Coraline sighed as she pushed DJ aside, "You left out being a bragger and modesty, too." she chuckled as she walked over to where she put her vest and shoes over to. But then stopped as she heard a buzzing sound. She turned around and asked, "Did you hear that, DJ?"

"Yeah, pretty much," DJ answered as he looked around. "You don't miss something like the sound of flies."

The sound was a bit faint, and got a little louder as the two looked around. The buzzing sound looked like it was gone, seeing as how they stopped hearing the sounds of wings flapping at high speeds. Coraline sighed as she let her shoulders slump down the sides. She slipped on her shoes, thinking to herself, 'I really… am not gonna get used to this town. Or at least this world. Not for a while.'

But then she heard the buzzing sound again, and this time it was closer. DJ walked over to her side as the two heard the sound… coming from the edge of the stage… and saw the tips of insect wings… Large insect wings. The two stood back, with Coraline's feet and fists in a Kato position, and DJ reaching for his guitar, with his right hand going aflame with Hellfire.

The two then spotted a military cut head of red hair sticking out, following by two large red insect eyes looking at them both. Then suddenly, at insect crawling speed, someone popped up. Both were a bit surprised to see who… or what… was before them. It was a teenage boy of sorts, about DJ's height, scrawny but not bones of sorts, with red hair cut in a militarily fashion, and huge red eyes with no pupils or irises, and a human mouth on his face. But what set him apart was… he was half fly. His skin was a light purple, and appeared to be exoskeletal, seeing as some of his joints were exposed, and insect hairs were grown on his forearms. He had four fingers, all insect claw-like, two insect toes, and folded into his back were two extra arms with two fingers and one thumb. He was wearing a tattered button up lab coat, and underneath it was a white button up shirt and a black vest on top, with a yellow bow tie, and tattered jeans, now turned into shorts at the bottom of the knee. And folded to his left shoulder, covering his right arm like a cape, were his insect wings.

As soon as he was presentable to them, he curtly brought his right hand to his back, and his left hand extended out. "Hello," he said to them, with a bow of his head.

DJ was actually relieved to seeing a fellow monster around. However… Coraline's response was of her usual response… as a scared human girl in a world full of monsters. She cringed in disgust as she whined, "Ewwwwwwwww!" letting her girl instincts get the better of her, she grabbed DJ's left arm, pulled it out of the socket, much to his shock, and swung it at the fly guy like at a bat.

The fly boy dodged it, as he looked in shock at the girl, "Hey!" she swing at him again as he dodged to the right, "What are you…?" and dodged another swing to the left as he continued, "Will you stop…!?" When she tried to swipe at him again, he unfolded his wings out as he jumped in the air, and flew above their heads. As he floated above them, he fumed at Coraline, "Please! Madam!" But then she successfully swiped at him, knocking him to the ground. "Please!" She began to whack him repeatedly on the head as he pleaded every time "Stop!" WHACK "Doing!" WHACK "That!!!" KA-WHACK!

"Okay! Coraline, that's enough!" DJ pleaded with her as he grabbed his arm from her. He yanked it from her as she finally calmed down; the skeleton boy popping his arm back into his socket once more. "He's a student, Cor. He was just saying hi."

As the two looked down on the bug boy, their mysterious fellow finally stood up, groaning and in a dizzy spell. "Whatever mad scientist or summoner made you…" he groaned, his eyes swirling with dizziness, as he spun around, trying to regain his footing, "… they _really _went all out."

"I am sooo sorry," Coraline stated as she ran over to help the fly boy up on his feet. "I'm just sort of… bug-phobic."

"She freaks out whenever she sees a cockroach," DJ defended.

"It's not my fault I find them cool as you do," Coraline shot back, but looked to the fly associate, "Are you okay, um…"

"Brundle," the fly boy answered as he straightened himself out. "Dexter Brundle. You might not have seen me, but I am in your chemistry and biology class, Mr. Skellington, Miss Jones."

"Oh, wait! Yeah, I've seen you before," DJ answered as he snapped his bony fingers. "During lunch, you were the kid that spat out that sludge stuff on your food. Then you slurped it all up, making all those gross sounds."

"Ahem, that was an acidic enzyme I use to digest my food," Dexter answered, not too pleased at the gross comment.

"Oh, yeah," Coraline finally realized it as she pointed out as well, "Then you were rummaging around the garbage later, like it was an indoor pool."

"I was scavenging parts for my Monster Analyzer and Improve-Izer."

"You were chewing on an old slipper with a banana peel sticking out of the corner of your mouth," Coraline added with disgust.

Sensing defeat in this argument, Dexter merely bowed as he apologized, "Uh, moving on."

"Yeah, like why were you here anyway?" DJ asked with a non-existent cocked eyebrow. "You weren't… spying on us, were you?"

"Oh no, perish the thought, my scrawny fellow," Dexter stated as he cleaned his face with his elbows, much to Cor's amazement. "I was just simply flabbergasted by both your performances." He then sighed contended as he turned to the side as his shoulders slumped in satisfaction on something as he explained, "Oh, how I adore the symphony of classical music, and the carefully patterned beauty of ballet. Ooooh, those were the days when opera and the Russian Ballet were in style."

"Really?" Coraline answered fascinated as she got her vest on. "Didn't think most monsters even cared about ballet."

"Oh, that's not true, my dear lady," Dexter corrected as he anecdoted. "I once saw two Japanese ghosts absolutely melt at the final scene of Giselle."

Coraline paled at that as she grimaced, "Japanese ghosts? Why do I have a feeling that they're…"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA…!"

The three stopped in their tracks as they heard a menacing laughter from within the darkness of the auditorium. A laughter… that would haunt you down to the core.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Comedy and Tragedy; Vampire and Ghost Rider**


	8. Question Poll

Hey, out there. Sorry if this wasn't an update on the next chapter. But I've been trying to contemplate on some things for the story. For one, I have some questions: Who would you like to appear in the story next from these categories:

Soul Eater

Resident Evil

Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

Secondly, who do you want to revive Oogie Boogie?

Thirdly, if Coraline had a choice, what monster would she wanna become, but still remain human? I've got a few list of choices if you wanna see them.

And what kind of songs do you want to see in the story? I've been thinking on some from Gorillaz.

Also, I've got one more: Who you wanna see couple up?

Well, hope to get some reviews later on. Hope to hear from ya.


	9. Comedy and Tragedy pt1

**Author's Note: Adding to the list, I don't own Soul Eater; they are both the property of Funimation Entertainment, and creator... the name escapes me. I'll find it and put it in later.**

**Halloween Academy**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Comedy and Tragedy; Vampire and Ghost Rider pt.1**

* * *

**Abandoned Auditorium**

The teen trio stood on the stage, as the laughter echoed all over the empty room. The uneasy laughter was starting to get to Coraline, as she couldn't really handle it for much longer. For DJ, his skull forehead was gaining an unusual sight… a white vein throbbing like crazy, as if to insightfully indicate his headache reaching to new limits. But for the new guy, Dexter, he just stroked his fly haired chin in curious observation. It was only until the laughter died down a bit, did a voice speak out.

"What a derivation performance; first a musical, then a dance number, and now a comedy!" the voice bellowed aloud with a cackle afterwards, "Hehahahaha! What's next? A horror flick!"

"Alright, if somebody's up there," Coraline shouted, "THEN JUST COME ON OUT!"

"Okay, okay! Sheesh! Calm down, lady," the mysterious voice stated in an annoyed tone, but then regained its cheerful tone, "Here I come!"

Suddenly, from out of the balcony, a young fellow of fourteen fell ot the ground, and landed gracefully on the floor on his feet in a crouching position. He stood up, in a hunched over relaxed stance, smiling at the trio.

Now that they had a good look at him, they saw to what this guy really was. He was a teenaged boy, around fourteen years old, skinny but not gangly, and obviously a Caucasian due to his bleached out chalk white skin, and green fingernails and toenails. On the feet were black ankle guards, and going from his heel to up his knee were light purple and dark purple striped spat guards. Following up, shiny darkened pants with two clown like orange belts dangling around his waist. With his hands dangling, it revealed that they were also chalk white, and wore light purple fingerless gloves. He also wore a big light purple tuxedo jacket, with a pink posie pinned on the left side of his collar, and had on a green vest over a violet undershirt. The boy's face was the visage of madness, as his yellow teeth were in a permanent grin, and his black eyes conveying red irises, and his short green hair slicked back, gave him a sort of a young Brad Pitt/Hannibal Lector look to him.

Both Coraline and DJ just looked at the guy, completely clueless as to how this guy could be a monster. Coraline turned to look at the boys, before she scoffed at the clown boy, and to the others as she asked, "You guys call this a monster? What's he gonna do? Laugh me to death?"

"Um, Cor," DJ tried to warn her, looking rather worried.

"Oh wait, don't tell me," Coraline continued to taunt, "He's gonna get me with a Whoopie Cushion of death? Or maybe he'll give me a can of spring loaded snakes, right?"

"Miss Coraline," Dexter tried to warn her, "I really must insist you stop teasing Freako."

"Freako?" Coraline taunted, "Please. He's not all that scary."

"Scary? I'm not scary," Freako suddenly said, popping up behind her unexpectedly, "I'm hilarious!"

"Wha?" Coraline asked, slightly startled, and not expecting what happened next.

Freako opened his mouth, revealing a tongue-sized lamprey shooting out… and bit Coraline right on the left side of her neck. The lamprey pulled back, revealing a slightly bleeding circle spot on her shirt. She clutched at it while she winched at the pain from the bite, and Freako just laughed and laughed at the situation. She collapsed onto her knees, just as Freako's laugh was booming out loud at her suffering.

"See?" Freako taunted out loud, "I know funny all too well!"

DJ's face was riddled with fear for his secretly human friend, and then turned to the cackling monster clown. He sneered at the still laughing bully jokester, and hissed at him, "So… you like funny, eh?" then in a flash, he flamed up into his Ghost Rider persona, and growled menacingly at the clown boy, "I'LL GIVE YA SOMETHIN' TO LAUGH ABOUT!"

The Ghost Rider then charged at the clown, taking a swipe at him. Unfortunately, the clown was much faster, as Freako jumped out of the way, with similarities of that of a monkey. He hopped on to the wall, and then to the other as DJ threw fire balls at him. He continued to do so, blowing up small holes as to where Freako would go next. Finally, DJ jumped right at him, and out of his rolled up sleeves, shooting out like vines, guitar cables that were spiked and ablaze, and whipped out at Freako. When he dodged the cables, they ripped at the floors and walls, leaving cauterized marks to where they struck out at.

Freako jumped up towards the darkened balcony, as he continued to cackle, "HAHAHAHA! Miss me, miss me, now you've gotta bleed me!"

"I'll be happy to," DJ shot back.

"As much as I'd love to see that happen," the clown boy stated, but pointed to the still in pain Coraline, "You need to look over your non-humored friend over there." then suddenly, two lampreys shout out of his back, stretching forward to the rafters, until they hooked into something, "Because, mark my words… she'll be seeing happy days ahead! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" and he was reeled up, vanishing without a trace in the shadows.

As soon as he flamed off, DJ huffed at the lunatic, "Freak." but that had to be pushed aside, as he turned back his attention to Coraline, who was being helped up by Dexter, and ran over to help her as well.

* * *

**Dorm Hospital Room**

At the moment, Coraline had been rushed to the infirmary, and was now sitting on the bed. She had her shirt off, with her laced nightgown underneath as undergarments, but was now having the last bandage on her shoulder put on. The bandages covered her mouth, nose up to her head, her right arm and hand, along with her shoulder, and chest, but only covered her left arm and hand up to her shoulder. The one examining her was a mummy… of sorts, considering she was mostly covered in bandages, looking like a mummy. She had dark skin, a tattoo on her upper left shoulder, blue eyes, and wore her dark hair in dreadlocks which was sort of a reference to an Egyptian. She also wore green military pants, a white top, a bandaged headband, and a white lab coat, with white sneaker sandals. Her name was Mira Nygus, a school nurse for the students, mostly assigned to the Monstars House.

She was currently walking over to Coraline, examining the bite, as she kindly relieved the young girl's worries. "Well, the bite doesn't seem to have done any damage," Myra assured her. "Though if anything unusual occurs, I want you to report yourself back here, alright?"

"Um, yeah, okay, Miss Nygus," Coraline shyly replied.

It wasn't that she was scared of this woman, it was quite the opposite. Not one of the monster adults in the school, much less Halloween Town, seemed to look this human, much less this nice.

"Don't mention it," Mira stated, but waved it off as she smiled under the bandages, "But please, call me Mira. I may be in my late twenties, but I'm not that old."

She then walked over to the door, to open it. But when she did, DJ, Bobby, Lydia, Wendy, and the newly appointed member of their group, Dexter, all fell down to the floor from leaning on the door. The only ones that didn't get thrown down, were Cheshire and Zero, who had also accompanied the kids. They all had the same thing on their minds: they were worried about the bite on Coraline's shoulder. Though only DJ knew about the truth, they were slightly concerned; usually a monster's shoulder would heal up like crazy, but for Coraline, it took time apparently.

Bobby was the first to get up, along with the others, as he looked around the room, and frowned, "Hey! This isn't Wipe Castle!"

Coraline shook her head as she hopped off the bed, finally finishing buttoning up her shirt, and slipping on her green vest, and chuckled at the group, "Glad to see you guys were worried about me."

"Who wouldn't be?" Lydia answered as she walked over, and comforted her friend/rival, looking rather concerned, "I mean, Sheesh! Freako left a nasty hickey on your shoulder."

Coraline had to smile warmly at Lydia's concern for her, as she joked, "So I guess you're not still angry about Cheshire's failed training?"

Lydia huffed at that question, "Thanks for reminding me. We're gonna need a little talk about your little private session with DJ." She then looked at the shoulder in sentence, and back at Cor, asking, "You sure it doesn't hurt anymore?"

Coraline merely shrugged as she rubbed her sore spot, and answered, "Ah, it's just a scratch. No big deal." but she stopped for a moment, and let out a small insane chuckle… but shook it off as she rubbed her forehead. "Okay," she told herself, "That was weird."

"Maybe we should see someone about that bite," Dexter pondered aloud as he scratched his chin with his elbow in thought, "It could give us a clue on Freako's motives… or his next target."

"I know who we could ask," Bobby answered aloud, getting everyone's attention as the blue blob was slowly pausing for dramatic effect. And then finally answered, "Ronald! He'll know what to do!"

"Ronald, the clown from McDonald's?" Coraline asked, with everyone sweat dropping and face vaulting as well.

"Yep," Bobby answered proudly, puffing his chest out in triumph, "If anyone knows more about clowns, it's good ol' Ronald McDonald."

The others were about to slap the eyeball out of his head silly, until Myra spoke out, "Well, if you're that worried, you could go over to the library and ask your schools' bio-chemist teacher."

"REally?" Coraline asked as she joined up with the others, "Who's that?"

Myra turned to their direction, the aura around her filled with dread as she spoke in a heard whisper, "Dr. Franken. Stein."

The students, who heard that name, even Bobby, sweat dropped at the sound or uttering of that name. the only one who didn't do so, was Coraline, as she cocked an eyebrow at this and asked, "Who?"

* * *

**Academy Library**

**Science Section**

The Monstar House students strolled on in to the section of the library distinctively for the science section. They were currently on the search for this Dr. Frank Stein. It was along the way up the stairs that they found out that Dexter was his somewhat apprentice. And it was during this little search, that Coraline had to ask out, "Okay, so what's the deal with this Stein guy? Why are you all so freaked out by just hearing his name?"

They all looked to each other, unsure of how to answer it, until Cheshire spoke out, "Well, Stein isn't what you'd call a people person. Matter of fact… most people would think by first impression that he's barely a person at all."

"He's a nutcase with severe surgical addiction," Wendy pointed out. "Though he is brilliant; almost as much as Dr. Finklestein is, but he's four times as crazy. Though it's hard to tell considering his calming demeanor."

"I heard… that he could swallow a kid," Bobby stated as he shivered, ", and he spits out the bones."

The others looked at Bobby, wondering if he was talking about Stein or Jaws. However, that moment was broken out as Coraline laughed out hysterically for no reason, "HAHAHAHAHA! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" she stopped herself before she went on, and shook her head, looking rather worried about this turn of events in her. "Let's keep going," she told everyone as she walked away.

Lydia walked next to DJ and asked in concern, "Is it just me, or after she got bit, did she become a little strange… er?"

DJ had also noticed the change in his friend, and didn't like it one bit, as he nodded in response. He then turned his attention back to the human friend of his, and more than ever silently prayed. If anyone had an answer to Coraline's strange behavior... it was this Stein guy.

* * *

**Next Chapter: Comedy and Tragedy; Vampire and Ghost Rider pt.2**


	10. Comedy and Tragedy pt2

**Halloween Academy**

**

* * *

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**Chapter 10: Comedy and Tragedy; Vampire and Ghost Rider pt.3**

* * *

**Back in the Library**

As the kids traversed down to wherever this Stein character was at, they all took heed at to what they now heard just then. The sound of squeaking wheels were heard from the distant bookshelf hallway they made their way in. but as they kept going, the sound of wheels became even more louder. Almost as if… it was heading right towards them. The gang all stood, flew, or slurped their ground, as the noise came from an approaching object on wheels. And would have gotten to them sooner… had the object didn't strike against a leftover book that was on the floor.

CRASH!

The object fell onto its back, revealing itself to be an office wheeled chair. It also revealed someone to be on it as well, as the kids got a good look at him.

The fellow riding the chair was a tall human man with shaggy silver-gray hair and big, round glasses that reflected the light, making it impossible to see his eyes. He had a large screw/bolt going through his head, with the head of the screw on the left side, and wore a gray turtleneck sweater, and black pants and shoes. A signature hallmark that the man had was his trademark zigzag stitches. He had the stitches all over his body and clothing. His most notable piece of clothing was his doctor's lab coat. He even looked also surprisingly well built for a man his age.

He got up, despite the others, minus Coraline, cringing in fear of this man's presence. The man then sat up in his chair again, facing them, slouched over as he turned the screw-bolt in his head, like a radio dial.

He then grumbled to himself, "No. that's not right; that's not right at all." he then patted his butt, getting the dust off, as he twisted the bolt once again, and casually shrugged, "Okay. Let's try that again."

'Is this guy for real? How's he so terrifying?' Coraline thought as she looked at him, and then looked at the man, as she asked, "Excuse me, do you know where we can find a Dr. Stein?"

The man seemed to freeze up from that question, as he looked to Coraline, exposing his eyes. Amazingly, they were the same color green as her own, as he asked in a surprised tone, "Dr. Stein?" And then he pondered aloud as he whispered, while scratching his chin, "Dr. Stein. Now that's a name no one's said in a long time. Much less sought out for."

"But do you know him?" Coraline insisted on the question.

"Of course, I know him," the man stated as he adjusted his glasses, "He's me."

"I guess a lot of people aren't as…" Coraline suggested, but then stopped as she gasped.

In the flash of an instant, Dr. Stein was right behind her, his right hand around her neck, and his other one patting her stomach. "You must have a lot of moisturizer. I've never felt such smooth skin before in my life here in this world." he then snickered as his glasses gleamed viciously, and spoke in a demonic tone, "I can fix it so it's more like sand paper." he then lifted up her shirt and vest, to just show off a little bit of her flat stomach, as he took a marker and started making marks, "I just need to start incisions in these key locations…"

'Oh crap… This guy is completely insane…' Coraline thought to herself, the look of fear on her face was completely evident in her head, '… no wonder every kid in this school's freaked out about him.' at this point, all she wanted to do was scream. Unfortunately, when she slightly opened her mouth, all that came out, was the following, "!"

Immediately, Coraline broke from Stein's grasp and she gasped and covered her mouth, looking rather shocked that that had happened. Everyone who had been around for that, stepped back as they were a little freaked out. Though Bobby seemed to giggle moronically, "Hehehehe! That looks fun; give me a tickle next."

Stein, on the other hand, had returned to reason on this as he let her go, and scratched his chin in deep loud thought, "Hmmm. That's odd. Usually they run away screaming when I pull something like this."

DJ, who had mustered a bit more courage, coughed to get his attention, as he answered, "Well, that's kind of the reason we're here."

"She… was attacked by Freako," Dexter admitted, feeling rather sheepish in the fact that such a thing had happened around him, "And was bitten; we're not quite sure what the side effects are for her."

Lydia nodded to that, "Lately she's had a case of the giggles."

"And she's not the most laughable person ever," Wendy chimed in.

"Now that I think about it," DJ commented as he scratched his bone chin, squinting his eyes in thought, "The way she laughs now… it's kind of creepy." When Coraline heard that, she just grumbled in annoyance at those opinions, until DJ smirked, complimenting, "I like it."

Bobby remained silent, looking clueless to them all, as they all looked to him for a response. He still had the same clueless look on his face, looking to them for an answer. Then finally, he looked in both directions, and whispered, "What's happening now?"

Stein just twitched his eyebrow as he sighed, not sure if he could figure it out, but then noticed that Coraline was missing. "Um, where's your friend right now?"

"Hey, guys," Coraline called out from the shelves, "Check this out."

The others turned and looked to see what Coraline was going on about. There, in the middle of the hallway of shelves, Coraline was juggling a couple of books for a moment. Then, she tossed them all into the air, and ran towards one of the bookshelves. She ran up the wall, and jumped off the side, doing a back flip, landing gracefully in a crouching position, as she caught the books with ease. And to top off the awkward performance, she cackled out in a crazed manor.

Stein cocked an eyebrow as he mumbled to the others, "You're right… that is creepy."

"Told you," DJ commented.

Coraline got up, and walked over to the bookshelves, to take a breather. She leaned on the bookshelf, huffing like crazy… and that's when Dr. Stein took notice as he whispered to DJ, "Um… DJ? What size shoe does Coraline wear?"

DJ shrugged as the Pumpkin Prince answered his best estimate, "I don't know… six… maybe seven. Why?"

"Because it looks like she wears a size fifty," Stein stated as he pointed to the floor.

There, they all saw it, big shoe footprints. The shoes that only clowns could wear, and they were all trailing back to Coraline's form. She was breathing and huffing deeply, almost as if she had run a great distance without even a break. The others looked at her with much concern, as DJ walked over to her as he went to go see if things were alright.

And in a moment of spontaneous, Bobby whispered to Wendy, "She was pretty handy with that juggling… like a clown would."

That got Wendy thinking, as DJ placed a hand on Coraline's shoulder, "Cor… you okay?"

She turned around, giving him a tired… and full toothed grin, as her eye twitched. Stein walked up as he gently pushed DJ aside, "Miss Coraline, let me take a look at that bite for you."

he unbuttoned the vest and shirt, and pulled the left shoulder sleeve back to see the bite mark that Freako had left her. But when he did it, his eyes showed a bit of controlled surprise, as well as cold calculating pondering. DJ saw the look on his face, and took a few steps forward to see what the big deal was. And he too was surprised at what he saw, when he saw the bite mark on the shoulder. Instead of looking like two puncture marks on her shoulder… it had turned into a scarred smiley face… which was pretty unusual.

Coraline went wide eye, but still retained her smile, as she asked in a whisper to the two, "Something's wrong with me, isn't there?" a paused silence filled the library as that question went unheard. "Oh, well," Coraline spoke up casually, as her eyes rolled around in a crazy manner, and laughed out loud like an insane maniac, "AHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Everyone looked at her, even more freaked out than before by this little scene. However, unnoticed by those in the shadows of the library's mighty shelves, Freako's red eyes burned with delight from the little revelation.

* * *

**Later On**

**Back in the Hospital**

Everyone had made it back to the hospital, where Myra had met up with them once again. They were currently in a sort of operation room, with computers that were for examination, as well as a microscope to look at viruses, tissue, or blood samples. The last one was what Stein was using at the moment, analyzing a sample of Coraline's drawn blood, with Myra by his side. The others were watching Coraline, who was in a cylinder containment unit, and banging on the door, as she tried to get out. Out there, DJ was looking at the small circle window, as the shadow of his friend was tossing all around the place. With him were Cheshire, who was perched on the shoulder of an equally worried Wendy, and Zero, who was at DJ's side, whimpering for the young blonde girl inside the container.

Inside, Coraline was banging on the walls, crying out, "Let me out! Come on! I just, you know? Wanna have a few laughs!"

At this scene, Zero whimpered out as he nudged on DJ's leg. The skeleton boy knelt down and petted his dog's head, as Zero whimpered, "I know, boy. I'm worried too."

"Interesting," Stein spoke up, getting all their attention, as he looked through the lens, not changing his attention to all of them. "The blood sample I'm seeing here, is most distressful. Her red and white blood samples are beginning to mutate much faster than the sample you showed me, Myra." He then pulled away as he looked to everyone, serious while turning his bolt, "She's definitely mutating."

"Mutating?" Lydia asked, looking at the container, and back to Stein, "Into… what Freako is?"

At that moment, DJ stood back up as he asked, "Well, why didn't Freak just slurp her up with his lampreys like he did with the others he caught?"

"Because the vampire legends are often accurate in this case," Stein answered as he adjusted his glasses as he explained, "A vampire can go both ways: feed on a victim, or turn a victim into a vampire fledging in its service."

"But why Coraline?" Wendy asked as he petted Cheshire.

It was evident on that answer as DJ answered that question, "Vengeance. Coraline insulted his sense of humor, and he got her back this way."

"Everyone!" Dexter ran in as he stopped himself as he looked to everyone, "I think I know what's been going on. Freako has been using the auditorium as a means of a feeding ground for himself. And he's going to bring in a sort of rave party later tonight."

Cheshire perched on Wendy's shoulder as he stated, "And giving Freako's abilities, he feeds off the laughter he'll probably induce to them all. And with each victim, he'll get strong enough to defeat any adversary that comes his way." and looked to DJ, "Powerful enough to fight against the Ghost Rider's Hellfire."

DJ clenched his fists as he growled, "We gotta beat him. It's the only way to get the kids he's feasted on." And looked back at the container, "And to get Coraline back to normal."

"I'll stay here," Stein stated as he turned back to the blood, "In case you run into him, I'll phone you in case I find a weakness against a Laughter Vampire." He looked to Myra and Dexter as he asked, "Could you two stay here? I might need a little help on this."

"Of course," Myra nodded.

With that, everyone took off, heading towards the auditorium, minus the other three… and Bobby. He was currently guzzling down stuff from the trash, and heard the doors closing behind him. "Huh?" he asked as he put the trash can down and slithered on over to the containment unit, and looked to the scientists hard at work, "What's everyone doin?"

"Research," Dexter answered, while not turning his back, "You can help by keeping an eye on Coraline in the chamber."

Bobby looked at the container and back as he asked, "You keeping her fresh?"

"Just tell us if she tries anything," Dexter commanded, "And DON'T let her out, no matter what. Understand?"

"Right!" Bobby answered with a salute, and slithered on over to the chamber.

Coraline continued to bang on the door, as she whined, "Let me out! Please!"

"No way, uh-uh," Bobby answered, as he continued, "I've been given strict orders not to let you out, no matter what. So exnay, negativo, naddah, bupkis, Nien, and Taco Grande parley Italian to anything you do to make me open that door. Because there's nothing, NOTHING, that you can do that'll make me open that door."

A pause was uttered in the container, until Coraline proposed in a singing tone, "I'll give you some cotton candy."

"You bet!" Bobby answered, not wasting or hesitating on that.

He rushed over to the door, and unlocked the door… which caused the force behind it to shoot the door right at him, and into the wall right next to the others. The trio looked and saw the container's door smashed into the wall. The trio got up from their spots as they ran to the door. It then fell down on the floor, as they saw the splatter spot that was Bobby, as he slimed off the wall and reformed back, with his hat back on.

"Leave it to the one with no brain to cause the problem for us," Dexter groaned.

After Bobby reformed, he pouted disappointingly, "Hey! Where's my cotton candy?"

Then, to gain their attention, they heard a girl's giggle, as they looked to the darkened open doorway for the container. Then, Coraline's hand grabbed onto the door's outer railing. But it wasn't her hand per say; it was hers but it was chalk white, with red and black striped fingernail polish. The four looked, as Coraline pulled herself out… revealing that her face was colored chalk white, and her eyes were yellow with red irises, her teeth were pearl white, and her lips were black. She looked at the four with much hunger as she chuckled insanely, with the attitude of a predator about to corner her prey.

* * *

**Later On**

**In the Abandoned Auditorium**

That night, the remaining others had wandered back into the darkened auditorium to seek out the clown boy. As before, the auditorium of the school was pretty much like the school and the rest of the town. Old, dirty, and spooky were the words that would best describe it in its appearance. The building was large and vast in size, echoing the rattles and wood creaks whenever the footsteps were made in the point of entry. Cob webs were decorated on the beams and walls of the ceiling, making them into makeshift curtains. The wood was nearly close to falling apart, but had enough strength to support any weight on it. It still looked the same, but with the rave party supplies all over the place. Freako was getting ready for his midnight feast, and this was the proof of it.

The others traversed around the room, trying to find Freako, but with no avail. Lydia gulped at this, which caught Wendy's attention as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a bit freaked out," Lydia rubbed her arm in fright, "You know, I kinda find it freaky to just get eaten if you laugh."

"Speaking of which," Cheshire asked as he strode between the girls, "Are you going to be alright? I mean, you're not exactly the best person to get involved in this due to your sense of humor."

"Don't worry," Lydia answered, stopping for a moment next to a curtain on the stage, "After this night, I'm not sure I'm ever gonna laugh again."

DJ sighed as he mocked with a half-smirk, "What? Not even for that dumb gag you saw on that Saturday Night Undead scenario, 'Dwayne, the Bathtub. I'm dwowning'?"

That earned a small silence for the moment, but only for a moment. That caused Lydia to giggle out for a moment, but she stopped as she stifled it in time. Or not. For at that moment, her laugh echoed throughout the auditorium, and getting more high toned. Lydia paled, knowing full well that this was how a Laughter Vampire would soon strike. Everyone looked around, waiting for Freako to attack her, and catch him. But it didn't come at all… someone else did the attacking, as lampreys shot out from behind a darkened curtain, and wrapped themselves around Lydia as she screamed out in terror. Then, a massive big Lamprey shot out, over her head, just as the others turned to hear her scream out… and then it stopped. The others looked over to where they heard the scream, and just saw darkness. That is until something shot at Wendy, and smacked her in the face. Wendy let it fall to the ground, and was shocked, as were the others, as they saw that what had been thrown at them, were Lydia's clothing and hair band.

They also heard chuckling, and that was enough to get DJ to flame up his right arm, and reach for his guitar. Wendy pulled out her broom from the bag, as she held it like a bo staff. The young pumpkin prince growled as he shouted, "Alright, Freako! Come out now!"

The chuckle continued, as they heard footsteps coming forward. The two were prepared for anything that Freako would throw at them… all except for what happened.

There, standing in the light… was Coraline. And yet… it wasn't her.

She had changed completely from the bite, much to the others' horror. Her skin from head to toe was chalk white, and her lips were black, along with her eyed becoming yellow and red. Her blonde hair was tied up into two ponytails, all anime style. She wore a black and red corset, with black gloves that went up to her shoulders, and had red bands on the elbows, the end of the gloves, and the wrists, with red fingers on them. Around her neck was a red choker, with a skeletal smiley face. She had on black stockings that went up, and a red and black diamond miniskirt. She also had on red leather high knee and high heel boots, with black toes and heels, with black belts on the top and ankles.

DJ, a little scared for her, asked nearly whispering, "Coraline?"

"Coraline?" she asked as her smirk spread as she chuckled, "You can just call me Cranka."

"Isnt she just to die for?" Freako suddenly popped up from atop the auditorium's light posts. They all saw him sit on the ledge with his legs crossed and leaning on one of the steel wires, "I gotta say, she's turned out to be a real Harlequin. I'm just as surprised to see the change turned out pretty well for her."

Suddenly, Coraline, or Cranka, jumped upward, and did a series of spins and jumped towards Freako. She landed right next to him, as she joked, "Stop me if you've heard this one, DJ. There were these two clowns in an abandoned auditorium while a rave was starting. A rave the clowns started." As this was heard, the remaining trio realized that the rave had started… and these two had slurped the entire party animals along with it, as Cranka kept going, "The Girl says to the Boy…"

"Give her back, Freako!" DJ demanded, his shoulders starting to burn, as his empty eye socket had a small glowing red dot in it.

The two Laughter Vampires slumped as their faces went from happy to frowns, as the two looked to the skeleton boy. Finally, Freako shrugged as he whined, "You call that a punch line?"

"I don't share your sense of humor," DJ growled, his flames growing a bit, as his changes came slow.

Freako smirked as he jumped up and stood on his feet, looking down at DJ in delight, "And yet, we're linked. You and I." He then pointed towards the smile and the frown of theater as he mimicked their facial expressions to emphasize his point to the skeleton boy, "We're like Comedy and Tragedy. Two sides… same mind."

"Let! Her! GO!" DJ finally roared out, transforming fully into the Ghost Rider as he snarled at the clown, "… or I'll turn your smile upside-down."

At that last threat, Freako just had to drop his voice at the last word, "Well, if it's laughs you dong want… then I'll just have to put a smile on that dour face of yours as well."

* * *

**Next Chapter: Comedy and Tragedy; Laughter vs Hellfire pt.4**


End file.
